Two former British soldiers who took the Ministry of Defence to a tribunal over racial harassment they suffered while in the army, have won their case.
Nkululeko Zulu and Hani Gue were subjected to highly offensive racial harassment, an employment judge ruled.
In one of the racist incidents, someone had drawn a swastika, a Hitler moustache and the words f* off and n****” on photographs of the men.
Judge Baty said the graffiti on the photo was unquestionably related to race.
The ruling also found that the army did not take reasonable steps to prevent the abuse.
A written judgment said: Notwithstanding the fact that the perpetrator is still unknown and was not before the tribunal to give an account of his/her motivation, we find that the carrying-out of this act was so unpleasant that it can only have been done with the purpose of violating the claimants dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and offensive environment for them.
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Mr Zulu and Mr Gues rooms in the barracks, which were only accessible by key, were opposite each other.
At around 9am on January 23 2018, Mr Gue was in Mr Zulus room having a cup of tea and, soon afterwards, a colleague came to join them.
Upon his arrival, the colleague was shocked to find that the photos on the door to Mr Gues room had been graffitied with the words f* off together with a swastika, which had been drawn on one of the photos of Mr Gue and Mr Zulu.
Someone had also drawn a swastika and a Hitler moustache on a photo of Mr Gue, and on a photograph of Mr Gue, Mr Zulu and another (white) private, the word n**** had been written across Mr Gue and Mr Zulu.
The judgment added: The conduct was unquestionably unwanted; the graffiti in question was of the most unpleasant nature, set out on Mr Gues personal photographs and was racially highly offensive.
The tribunal concluded these allegations of harassment are therefore established and succeed in relation to both claimants, adding: It is not, therefore, necessary or appropriate to consider the matter as an act of direct discrimination.
Other complaints made by the two men were dismissed due to being out of time while their remRead More – Source
