Two friends who were subjected to racist and sexist abuse by a nightclub bouncer in Belfast will each receive £7,500 in compensation.
In September 2008 the pair, Domingos Lopes, 30, and Joanne McGuinness, 25, were refused entry to the Bambu Beach Club in the city’s Odyssey complex.
One of the doormen went on to make sexually obscene remarks to Ms McGuinness and also used racial slurs against Mr Lopes, who is Portuguese and black.
At Belfast Recorder’s Court, the judge ruled that they were victims of discrimination on the basis of sex and race.
At the time of the incident, the club was owned by Premium Bars and Restaurants PLC, but ownership subsequently changed.
Judge Aidan Corrigan said the pair suffered abuse that was unjustified and vile, and the doorman’s remarks constituted the worst type of race discrimination.
He also said other staff members, including management, witnessed the incident but did not intervene.
The Equality Commission helped the friends make their compensation claim.
Ms McGuinness said nobody should be put through the treatment they received on the night in question.
She said: “Although we had done nothing wrong we were made to feel very small and humiliated in front of a whole queue of people.”
Eileen Lavery, Head of Enforcement at the Equality Commission, said the case sent a message that businesses who fail to stop their staff from behaving improperly will “pay a heavy penalty for it”.
She added: “In this case, the judge has included compensation for aggravated damages, and categorised this as the worst type of race discrimination.”
