SICK STUNT
Millionaire who ‘filmed Grenfell Tower effigy being burned at bonfire also mocked 9/11 and called Meghan Markle’s priest a n******’ in racist Whatsapp chat’
A MILLIONAIRE accused of filming a Grenfell Tower effigy being burned at a bonfire is also said to have mocked 9/11 and called Meghan Markle's priest a n******' in a racist Whatsapp chat.
Paul Bussetti, 47, was part of a group of revellers at a bonfire party who cruelly cackled and jeered as the cardboard model went up in flames.
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The clip - filmed in November at a bonfire party in South Norwood in London - sparked outrage after the devastating blaze in West Kensington killed 72 people.
Bussetti is now on trial at Westminster Magistrates' Court accused of sending a "grossly offensive" video on WhatsApp and causing footage of a "menacing character" to be uploaded on YouTube.
RACIST RANTS
The court heard he sent the footage to two WhatsApp groups - one a holiday groupchat containing four people and one a football group chat containing 16 people.
It then went viral with Bussetti handing himself into cops. He admitted filming the video in a "stupid moment".
The court also heard a number of sickening racist messages included in Bussetti’s bad character material.
In one, he calls the priest who married Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as a ‘n*****’.
One photo was said to have consisted of a black man with children playing on top of him.
Prosecutor Philip Stott read the caption: "The male n****rpotamus, a rare sight to see, he will soon abandon them and leave them to the female.'
He told the court that there was a picture of a gallows with the caption: "n****r swing set".
Knowing that my niece was in there and that her fate was unknown for a long time will stay with me forever.
Sandra Ruiz, aunt of Grenfell victim
The prosecutor said another image was a picture of black babies in a KFC bucket with the caption: 'How to get a black man to see his kids.'
He also used the words "w**", "black c***" and called Cornflakes "c***flakes".
Referring to Prince Harry and Meghan during a conversation with friends, he said ‘n***** priest as well’ before he then wrote in his ‘Darts Chat’ group - which was previously believed to be his ‘Football Chat’ group - that ‘w*** can’t defend’ and they had played a ‘team full of c****’.
Images shared among friends by Bussetti also include KKK imagery, mocking Muslims and the 9/11 tragedy, referencing it to the game Angry Birds, changing the second word to Muslims.
A final image sent in October last year showed Fireman Sam being told the local mosque was on fire - to which his response was, ‘and?’.
The trial heard the effigy included cardboard cut-out figures - including one wearing a hijab, the court was told.
A video showed the model going up in flames as people shouted: "Help me, help me", with others saying: "Jump out the window."
'A MOCKERY'
Mr Stott said when Busetti sent the video to 20 people on WhatsApp it was a "natural and foreseeable" event that it would go on to spread further and "go viral".
A victim impact statement from Sandra Ruiz, the aunt of Grenfell fire victim Jessica Urbano Ramirez, 12, told how she was left sickened by one reveller in the clip saying: "That is what happens when you don't pay your rent."
She added: "Jessica was told repeatedly to stay in the tower and the video made a mockery of her death.
"Knowing that my niece was in there and that her fate was unknown for a long time will stay with me forever.
"They clearly spent a lot of time on the model, making it all the more malicious.
"It was one of the lowest days since the actual fire."
The millionaire is the owner of an £8 million apartment building in Clapham, South West London, and inherited a fortune from his dad after he was murdered in 2002.
If convicted, he could be handed a maximum 15 weeks in prison or a fine.
Bussetti, from South Norwood, denies two charges of sending an offensive communication under the 2003 Communications Act.
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The trial has now been adjourned until August 22. Bussetti has been released on unconditional bail.
The fire at Grenfell Tower left 72 dead and more than 70 others injured on June 14, 2017.
It led to an ongoing public inquiry and anger that the building had been coated in flammable materials.
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Piers Morgan gets emotional as he says he would go to prison if it meant he could name and shame the Grenfell Tower effigy culprits after bonfire night video
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