We all know that it is very precarious when one is called the N-word by another person, in particular if that person happens to be of European descent. Just ask Colin Pinder, who was sentenced Dec. 14 to nine years after a cold-case homicide prosecution in the United Kingdom.
Pinder was found guilty last July of the manslaughter of his fiancée’s father in the spring of 1987. He had confessed his involvement as early as 1993.
Brian McGrath was 43 when he was murdered by Pinder and the victim’s wife, Vera, who is already serving a life sentence after being found guilty of her husband’s murder in July.
Pinder struck McGrath after being called a racial epithet. McGrath fell after being hit, and struck his head on the kitchen range.
The case took more than two decades to prosecute because of the manner in which the victim’s body was disposed. McGrath was initially buried and was later exhumed and burned. What was left of the victim’s body was thrown into a septic tank. The bone fragments that remained could not be identified until advances in DNA were made.
