Audio recordings reveal man threatening to kill charity workers

Warning: This article contains language that some readers may find offensive

A charity worker who was told he would get a bullet in his head and that everyone in his place of work would be "burnt to a crisp" has called for tougher laws to deal with race hate crimes.

Takura Makoni was also warned he would be beaten with a hammer and his face turned "into a pizza".

The threats were made in March last year in two expletive-filled phone calls, which Makoni recorded.

William Brown, from East Street in Newtownards, was handed a suspended prison sentence in April after he was convicted of making threats to kill Makoni.

The 28-year-old was also convicted of making threats to damage property and improper use of a public communications network.

He was not convicted of a race hate crime because there is no such offence in Northern Ireland.

Sinn Féin assembly member Deirdre Hargey said she has written to the director of the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) to review the sentencing of Brown.

Makoni, a policy officer at the African and Caribbean Support Organisation Northern Ireland (Acsoni), said he believed this was a failure.

"We need a dedicated law speaking to the issues of racially-motivated crime and if we have that law then we have a deterrent," he said.

"And in terms of reporting of these crimes then we also have the security that if our crimes are reported something will be done, because confidence in the justice system is very low when it comes to issues around racially-motivated crimes."

He said legislative change was crucial, particularly given escalating racial tensions in Northern Ireland that have manifested in violent disorder on the streets over the last three summers.

During the phone recordings shared with BBC News NI, the offender Brown branded Makoni a highly offensive racist term and repeatedly told him to go back to his home country.

In the expletive-filled rants, he could also be heard asking: "What country are you from? Are you a Muslim?

"You're in my country. You adhere to our laws."

He then called Makoni a foreigner and an immigrant, and said: "This is a Christian country for Irish and British and Scottish and Welsh and Anglo-Saxons."

He added that it was not a place for Muslims "like you".

Makoni said he and others from minority ethnic backgrounds were used to hearing racist language every day.

In fact, he said, many experienced worse - like attacks on their properties or physical assaults.

However, he said he had been particularly concerned about Brown's threat to burn down the Acsoni building - because it was also occupied by a south Belfast charity that supports young children and mothers.

"If he had damaged the building, he would have impacted the residents of south Belfast, of which they are Catholics, Protestants, blacks, whites, Christians, Jews, Muslims," he said.

"The impact would have been profound, and not only the harm on the building, but what if there had been people in the building when this act that he was threatening to, you know, commit happened? So it was a real concern."

Brown was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for three years. The sentence was enhanced due to hostility, which means that a racial motivation had been proven.

But according to Victim Support, which advocates for victims of race hate crimes, that does not happen in the majority of cases.

Michael Avila, a managing consultant for the organisation, told BBC News NI: "Currently you cannot be convicted for a hate crime in Northern Ireland.

"You're convicted for, say, assault. Potentially then the judge may add on at the sentencing stage that there was a hate motivation and maybe stricter sentencing. But that's quite rare."

Avila said that did a "disservice" to victims.

South Belfast MLA Deirdre Hargey, who is also on the Policing Board, said she had written to the director of the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) over Brown's sentence, describing the threats he made as "vile and racist".

"There can be no place in our society for that kind of racism and hatred and when someone is brought before the courts they should be dealt with in the strongest possible way," she said.

"It is vital that everyone in society shows there can be no tolerance for any form of racism."

Figures obtained by BBC News NI from the PPS showed that in 2024/25, of the 79 defendants who were convicted of a racially-motivated offence, 21 were recorded as having received an enhanced sentence due to the aggravating feature of their offences.

New legislation to address this issue and the wider rise in race hate is progressing through the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Earlier this year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) introduced its Sentencing Bill, which is aimed at changing how racially-motivated hate crimes are prosecuted.

It involves introducing a "statutory aggravator model", which the DOJ said would "provide a system-wide response to the criminalisation of the hate element of crimes".

It said the bill "requires the court to treat the offence more seriously, to state that the offence is so aggravated, to record the conviction in such a way that shows the aggravation, and, in imposing the sentence, to explain how the aggravation affects the sentence imposed".

The new model was recommended in a report six years ago by former judge Desmond Marrinan.

Avila, from Victim Support, said implementing the model would keep any hate motivation consistent from the moment the crime is reported to the moment it is passed to the Public Prosecution Service, through trial and to sentencing.

If you have been affected by any of the topics raised in this article, help and support is available via the BBC Action Line.