Police have issued an update in connection with a "deeply upsetting" racist attack on an international musician in a Welsh seaside town.
Morris 'Mo' Pleasure was slapped to the head and faced racial slurs in the early hours of April 3 as he entered Aberystwyth nightclub, Pier Pressure. The American multi-instrumentalist — who is Bette Midler's musical director and a former member of Earth, Wind and Fire — recently issued a statement to WalesOnline about the incident. You can read his comments here.
Now Dyfed-Powys Police has issued an appeal for information. A spokesperson for the force said: "An alleged racially aggravated assault occurred at about 2am on Sunday, April 3, outside Pier Pressure, Aberystwyth. We are appealing for help from the public to identify the person in the CCTV image, who may have information that could help the investigation. Anyone who knows who the person is, or if you believe you are pictured, contact Dyfed-Powys Police." You can get more Aberystwyth news and other story updates by subscribing to our newsletters here.
Mo has lived in Aberystwyth for 18 months with his wife Kedma Macias, who is from the town. He said the people of Aberystwyth had been "so welcoming" and this month's assault in Royal Pier was the only time he had received abuse in the area.
The 59-year-old, a keyboardist in Michael Jackson's final touring band, was out with Kedma's two sisters at the time. Kedma said: "They were having a great night. My sisters went in [to Pier Pressure] first and as Mo was following them in, he was slapped on the back of the head."
She said the strike came from a man queueing for the venue, who went on to aim "every racist slur under the sun" at Mo. The "great" bouncers were "on Mo's side", ordering the attacker to leave, she added.
Kedma said: "Mo arrived home very upset. He said, 'I'm just used to this.' And that made me feel so sad. What he went through was absolutely disgusting. As a black man from America, he's been through this sort of thing his whole life."
The couple, whose daughter is just under a year old, thanked the community for their support. Mo said: "Aberystwyth is a magical place that has become home for my family over the last year and a half. The people of Aber have been so welcoming to me and the support I’ve had since this incident happened has been overwhelming.
"My wife and I have a little girl so we feel we have a responsibility to call out racism when we see and hear it, with the hope that our daughter doesn’t have to come across this type of abuse in her life. It was a deeply upsetting experience and I hope the police are able to identify who did this to me and prevent this person from attacking anyone else."
Kedma added: "No one is a bigger supporter of Aberystwyth than me. Racism is everywhere. It happens all the time, even in little things that people don't realise. It's about education and people having a deeper understanding that, even in our beautiful town, racism can and does happen. As a community we want to stamp that out and call it out."
She said police had been "great" in offering emotional support to Mo and classing the attack as a hate crime. And a spokesman for Pier Pressure said earlier this month that the club had provided CCTV to police.
The spokesman said the venue "values Mo’s praise for the professionalism of its security personnel". They added: "We utterly condemn such behaviour and any person who perpetrates a criminal act of this kind is subject to an indefinite exclusion.”
Anyone with information that could help officers with their investigation is asked to report it to Dyfed-Powys Police. You can do so online here, by emailing 101@dyfed-powys.police.uk, or by calling 101. If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or speech impaired, text the non-emergency number on 07811 311 908.
If you contact police about the case you should quote reference code DP-20220403-118. Alternatively, contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously by calling 0800 555111, or visiting crimestoppers-uk.org. You can read more breaking news here.
