A free speech champion who uploaded a “racist” recording of himself shouting abuse at asylum seekers in a Perth hotel has been “duped by media outlets to scapegoat refugees,” a court heard.
Boxing coach David Soutar was told his YouTube video could have been seen as an incitement to violence.
The 56-year-old filmed men and security staff through ground floor windows of the city’s Station Hotel, which is being used to house refugees.
In the clip, he repeatedly calls the men “c***s,” rants “there’s f***ing hundreds of them” and tells one man through the window: “F*** off, don’t you smile at me you pr**k.”
Soutar, who once accused a Perth restaurant of “funding Islamic terrorism” in another online rant, denied his actions were – as prosecutors claimed – threatening nor “inherently dangerous.”
But following a trial in December, he was found guilty of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, likely to cause fear or alarm, by recording at the hotel some time between November 24 and December 6 2021, while repeatedly swearing and uttering offensive and derogatory remarks.
Soutar, who was repeatedly told “your politics are not on trial,” returned to Perth Sheriff Court for sentencing.
His “standing in the community and the otherwise good work” was acknowledged by Sheriff William Wood.
Fixation
The sheriff told him: “I understand you are a passionate man who cares very deeply about the lack of housing available to local people.
“But putting that to one side, it has to be said that the material you posted on the internet could well be interpreted by others as racist.
“Social workers assessed that you don’t present as someone who is intrinsically racist – but ‘someone who has been duped by media outlets to scapegoat refugees’.
“I don’t know whether you were duped or not but this does seem to have been something of a fixation.”
When Soutar interrupted, saying he supports free speech, the sheriff said: “You are entitled to free speech, but you have to be careful when you publicise this on the internet as it can be viewed as an incitement to others.
“It could have incited others to react in a very violent way.
“But given your standing in the community and the otherwise good work that you do, I am satisfied custody is not necessary.”
The sheriff ordered Soutar, of Darnhall Crescent, to carry out 250 hours unpaid work.
He added: “This was not a peaceful protest, it was not protected by free speech – it goes far beyond that.
“It was abusive and it was racist and it could incite others to violence.
“Let’s not see you back here again.”
Burning takeaway video
Solicitor David Holmes, defending, highlighted part of a pre-sentencing report which described his client as “passionate, animated and does a lot of good for young people in the local area.”
He said: “Mr Soutar accepts that there other ways he could have expressed the political views that he holds.”
At the trial, Soutar told the court: “I care about my town.”
He said he wanted to compare the situation at the Station Hotel with the plight of British war veterans living on the streets.
“They (the men in the hotel) came through every safe country,” he said. “I believe they are economic migrants, putting pressure on our services.”
In 2023, Soutar took part in an anti-knives initiative to encourage teens and young men to lay down their weapons.
During lockdown, he raised hundreds for soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder.
In 2016, Soutar was handed an unpaid work order for uploading a Facebook video claiming the city’s Manzil restaurant was “funding Islamic terrorism”.
In the clip, Soutar used a lighter to set fire to a takeaway menu, saying: “This is what we do to the people who are funding terrorism. We burn the scumbags.”
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