Fabrice Muamba: Racist
Twitter comments admitted by Swansea student
Liam
Stacey admitted a racially-aggravated public order offence.
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A student
has admitted posting racially offensive comments on Twitter about footballer
Fabrice Muamba.
Liam
Stacey, 21, appeared at Swansea magistrates' court after tweeting about the
Bolton Wanderers player who collapsed during a FA Cup tie against Tottenham
Hotspur on Saturday.
The
23-year-old, who suffered a cardiac arrest, remains critically ill.
Stacey, a
Swansea University student from Pontypridd, admitted a racially-aggravated
public order offence.
He was
arrested after his comments on the social networking site were reported by
other users.
He has
been released on bail and is due to be sentenced on 27 March, Prosecutor
Lisa Jones told the court: "Fabrice Muamba collapsed on the pitch and was
believed to have died."
The court
heard shortly afterwards Stacey posted the offensive comments.
Complaints
Magistrates
were told police forces across Britain received complaints following the
comments.
Stacey
tried to "distance himself" from the tweets by claiming his account
had been hacked, the court was told.
Magistrates
heard he later tried to delete his page but he was arrested on Sunday at his
student house in Swansea.
Fabrice
Muamba, 23, collapsed during a match on Saturday.
When
interviewed by police, Stacey said he had been drinking since lunchtime on
Saturday and was drunk when he made the comments
.
.
He told
police: "I was at the bar when I heard what had happened to Muamba. I
don't know why I posted it
it "I'm not racist and some of my friends are from different cultural backgrounds."
it "I'm not racist and some of my friends are from different cultural backgrounds."
Bailed
Stacey was close to tears as the evidence was given about his tweets.
The court heard he later texted a friend and said: "I said something about Muamba that I shouldn't have and tweeted back to some people who abused me. Getting police on me now which isn't good at all."
Stacey was told in court that he could be jailed over the comments.
He has been bailed until he is sentenced and has been ordered not to use Twitter and other social networking sites.
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