Law student who called Bukayo Saka ‘a monkey’ avoids jail

A law student who described Arsenal and England winger Bukayo Saka as a “monkey” and a “f------ black piece of s----” has avoided jail after claiming he was not intending to be racist.

Suhel Ali, a 20-year-old Arsenal fan, responded to the club’s defeat by Nottingham Forest in May last year by posting an audio message on social media, in which he also called Saka the N-word.

The City University student, who is of Nigerian heritage like Saka, admitted sending an offensive message by public communication network. He received a 12-month conditional discharge with £111 costs.

Kieran O’Donnell, Westminster magistrates’ chair, said: “Your lawyer said your intention was not to be racist, but whoever heard it would have heard racial abuse. But you are of previous good character. You have no previous convictions. You are remorseful.”

Ali posted the audio message after Arsenal’s loss to Forest officially ended their hopes of lifting the Premier League title in the 2022-23 season.

It is not the first time that Saka, 23, has been the target of racist abuse in his young career.

In November 2021, a man who live streamed himself racially abusing Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison.

Jonathon Best, from west London, had posted a rant about the three players after England’s penalty shoot-out defeat by Italy in the final of the European Championship.

In a statement issued shortly after that final, Saka called upon social media platforms Instagram, X and Facebook to do more to combat abuse.

“I knew instantly the kind of hate that I was about to receive and that is a sad reality that your powerful platforms are not doing enough to stop these messages,” Saka said.

Saka has made a superb start to this season, scoring three goals and registering seven assists for Arsenal in 10 appearances so far.