A personal trainer got drunk and hurled racist abuse at a friend in a row over a dog. Two officers attended a street in Grangetown, Cardiff, at around 11.35pm on April 19 after receiving reports of a man being abusive. They found Ingram, 32, shouting outside a block of flats and using a derogatory term for Pakistani people as well as yelling: "He's from Bangladesh... He shouldn't even be in the country for f***'s sake."
Prosecutor Jason Howells told Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday: "Before the officers could get out of their vehicle he approached the passenger side shouting at the officers that he wanted his dog back. He was using the words: 'That P*** c*** has it.'"
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Ingram's friend opened a window in his flat and shouted that he did not have the defendant's dog. Footage played in court showing Ingram launching into a "highly offensive" racist and expletive-filled tirade of abuse against his friend and describing him as an "immigrant".
He also said: "I'm on a suspended sentence, now I'm going to go up there and punch that c***'s head in." This was a reference to Ingram's sentence last November for drunkenly punching, kicking, strangling and stamping on his stepbrother outside the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay. He was handed an eight-month jail term suspended for two years after admitting he caused actual bodily harm.
The 20-minute police bodycam footage of the Grangetown disturbance showed an officer telling Ingram: "You can't go saying racial slurs like that." Ingram replied that he could because "I'm Black myself".
The officer said: "I sympathise with how you feel because if it was my dog I'd feel the same. But you said it yourself, it's a civil matter... Kyle, you need to leave or I'll have to arrest you."
Ingram continued to shout: "It's my f***ing dog." He was arrested and later told police he had been out drinking in town and left his dog with his friend, who then allegedly refused to give the pet back until he paid a £150 debt. The court heard the victim declined to give police a statement because he considered Ingram a friend.
"They have known each other for four years," said Angelo Gooden, mitigating. "That friend was a third party in the purchase of the dog, and the arrangement was that Mr Ingram would pay for the dog in instalments. A number of instalments were still to be paid when Mr Ingram attended the flat. He was told the implications of not paying that day were that he would forfeit the payments he had already made and forfeit the dog. There was no written arrangement, that was just the way things were done. He tried to explain he couldn't get the money that day. The defendant, who has struggled with alcohol issues, concedes he had consumed some alcohol and that played a role in his actions."
Ingram, of Broadwell Close in St Mellons, admitted racially aggravated abuse. He has 37 previous offences on his record including assault, fraud and drug crimes. Luis Williamson, who represented Ingram at the latest hearing, said: "He has family members from the communities he made derogatory remarks about and his own family are immigrants to this country. He apologises to the court."
Mr Williamson added that his client has been volunteering as a personal trainer at Energie Fitness in St Mellons and hopes this will be a route into paid employment. He has been attending rehabilitation activity days as part of his previous suspended sentence order and getting help from the Dyfodol substance misuse charity. Ingram receives £600 per month in Universal Credit which gives him £300 of disposable income. He is "actively managing his alcoholism", said Mr Williamson.
Recorder Moira MacMillan said: "You've made very good progress indeed in relation to the order made by the court last November, particularly on your issues around the use of alcohol, which makes it a great shame indeed that you appear in court for these events related to the misuse of alcohol."
Describing Ingram's racist language as "highly offensive" the judge imposed a £150 fine and £340 in prosecution costs. Ingram must pay the total within 12 months. As he left the dock he said "cheers" to the judge. You can read more news from Welsh courts here.
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