Ex-EastEnders star who said ‘black lives don’t matter’ when given community order
A former EastEnders actress who shouted ‘black lives don’t matter’ during an argument by the sea in Essex has been sentenced to a community order.
Atie Jarvis, who played Hayley Slater on the BBC soap from 2018-2019, got into an argument with a group of outside a fish and chip restaurant in Southend-on-Sea around 7.30pm on 31 July 2020 Women.
Cyrus Shroff, prosecutor, said tensions flared after someone tried to lift an empty chair from a four-seat table where Michelle Antonio, who is black, was sitting with two others of her group of four.
He told Basildon Crown Court that Ms Antonio had said the chair would be used, then saw the 30-year-old defendant and told her she could not take the seat as it was needed by a fourth person in her party.
He said there were differing accounts of what happened next, with Jarvis claiming Ms Antonio was “aggressive”, which Ms Antonio denies.
she celebrated. She met a friend she hadn’t seen since she was in school. There was high spirits.Defenseman Patrick Harte
Mr Shroff said Jarvis left shouting “black lives don’t matter anyway”, “black c****” and “I’m a celebrity”.
He said it “appears that a fight has broken out between the parties”.
Mr Shroff said Ms Antonio said Jarvis’ comments made her “disgusted and angry” and that she “can’t believe those things are still being said in 2020”.
He said the doorman Toby Groom Jarvis refused entry to the Hope Hotel at around 9.15pm and when she returned an hour later, Mr Groom again asked her to leave.
“She started swearing at him again,” Mr Shroff said.
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“Then she spat at him.
“It is correct to say that there is no indication that it is connected to him.
“He notified police and shortly after around 11pm officers arrested Ms Jarvis.”
He said Jarvis, from Rainham, east London, told officers “she was racially incorrect and she was drunk”.
Ex-EastEnders star Katie Jarvis sentenced to a community injunction at Basildon Crown Court on charges of racially aggravated harassment and mutual assault (Joe Giddens/PA)
Jarvis on Tuesday admitted to racially aggravated harassment and mutual assault on the day her first trial was scheduled to take place and was convicted the following day.
Patrick Harte mitigated that Jarvis “claims that she did not physically assault anyone that day.”
He said she felt “sorry for the people who heard her use the awful language that day and for Mr Groom the bouncer who was just doing his job”.
Mr Harte said Jarvis “drank very rarely” and was “in London on the day in question – she’s had a number of successful interviews for films”.
“She celebrated,” he said.
“She met a friend she hadn’t seen since she was in school. There was a good mood.”
He said Jarvis claims she didn’t use the language “until the argument got physical” and that she reacted “appallingly” after a “bunch” jumped on her as four or five women jumped on her.
He said the “language used is not what it believes”.
Mr Harte read out a statement from Sonja Gater, an aunt by marriage of Jarvis who is an ambassador for an anti-knife charity in west London, in which she said she “knows perfectly” that Jarvis is not a racist, adding: “I do wouldn’t have a racist person in my life.”
Mr Harte said the incident caused “tremendous difficulties” for Jarvis.
“The last movie she did was in 2020,” he said.
“She hasn’t worked in films since then.
“She was trying to get a job in The Range to make ends meet, she went for a four-hour shift to try it out.”
He said the shift seemed to be going well and she was given a uniform, but “the CEO got wind of her employment and she was fired.”
Judge Samantha Leigh, who handed down the sentence, found Jarvis had no criminal record as an adult and said that because she was in the public eye, she “was abused on social media.”
She sentenced Jarvis to a two-year community decree with 200 hours of unpaid work and 60 days of specified activities.
Jarvis tearfully told the judge “thank you” after she was sentenced.
The actress had also been charged with two counts of assault by beating, which she denied.
The judge ordered that one of those charges be dismissed with an acquittal on the second.
https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/ex-eastenders-star-who-said-black-lives-dont-matter-given-community-order-41570313.html Ex-EastEnders star who said ‘black lives don’t matter’ when given community order
