A black man who had a banana sent to him at
Wetherspoons in a racially-motivated hate crime is traumatised and says he'll never return to that pub.
Mark D'arcy-Smith, 25, told Mirror Online that he still gets a "weird" feeling when he walks past the pub, and he was "disappointed" the abuser didn't apologise when convicted of a hate crime last week.
Mr D'arcy-Smith was shocked and humiliated when a server brought the piece of fruit to his table during a night out at the Richmal Crompton in Bromley, south-east London.
Sitting only two tables away, Louie Kincella, 20, used the pub chain's app to send the 30p banana to Mr D'arcy-Smith, and was later identified during a "painstaking" police investigation into the racial abuse.
Speaking after Kincella was convicted and fined, Mr D'arcy-Smith said: "One of the things I hope comes from this is he does learn from this and realises what he did was wrong."
When Kincella was arrested at his home, he admitted to ordering the banana but claimed he did it "for a joke" and he did not intend for it to be sent to any table but his.
Last week, Kincella, of Mottingham, was found guilty of a racially aggravated offence under the Public Order Act when he appeared at Bexley Magistrates' Court.
He was hit with a fine of £600 and ordered to pay costs of £620. He has been banned from the pub.
Mr D'arcy-Smith, a media and marketing executive from London, said: "I feel really, really good, to be honest... for it to have finally concluded in the way I was hoping.
"It was like a massive weight being lifted off my shoulders when I heard the guilty verdict."
"I was hoping that he would (apologise) and I didn't get one. I was a bit disappointed by that.
"It would have been nice if the fine was bigger."
When he walked past the pub days after the incident, the traumatic memory of the incident left him trembling and his hands feeling shaky.
He used to go to the Richmal Crompton with friends every few months for a catch-up. He has been to other pubs since, but said he will likely never return to the Richmal Crompton.
He added: "I don't think (I will go back). That one, I just feel like I'd rather avoid that particular environment.
"It happened on the Friday and when I walked past it on the Monday on the way to work, it hit me.
"I remember it very clearly. I felt uneasy going past.
"You know when you get that weird feeling your stomach, I had that feeling, where you just don't feel right.
"I can associate that memory of the banana event happening, and whenever I go past it even now it does make me feel weird."
Mr D'arcy-Smith was having an after-work drink with a friend on the night of November 8, 2019, when a server brought the banana on a plate with a receipt stating "dessert".
Immediately suspecting it was a racially-motivated act, he told the staff member that neither he nor his friend ordered it.
The server explained that someone had placed an order via the pub's app for a single banana for 30p and requested that it be sent to the table he was sitting at.
