The statue of Edward Colston in Bristol was “a monument to racism”, a court has heard, as a defendant described the moment he gave the signal to topple the memorial to the slave trader. Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, and Sage Willoughby, 22, are accused of helping to tear down the statue of the slave trader during a Black Lives Matter protest on 7 June last year. They are on trial alongside Jake Skuse, 33, who is accused of helping to roll the bronze to Bristol harbour where it was thrown into the River Avon. Opening the defence for Willoughby at Bristol crown court on Wednesday, barrister Liam Walker told jurors they would hear evidence that the statue of Colston “was in fact indecent and threatening, particularly to members of the black community in Bristol”. Colston “cast a shadow” over Bristol “until the very statue that venerated him was forcibly and, we submit, lawfully removed from its plinth”, Walker added. He said: “Edward Colston oversaw the genocide of 19,000 human beings – that number included children. All of them were enslaved with a brutality that you will learn about and will no doubt conclude is as upsetting as it is shocking. “He is not, as has been described, a ‘divisive figure’. Colston’s vile, immoral enrichment and indeed his life should not, I suggest, divide opinion in the slightest.” Walker said the actions and values of his client were “diametrically opposed” to those of Colston, and that he had never disputed his role in tearing the statue down. “You will recall, from his [Willoughby’s] interview, that he said: ‘The statue was a monument to racism’,” Walker said. “That its presence felt, to him, ‘like a hate crime’ and that ‘at that moment, it felt like the right thing to do. To take the statue down’.” Earlier, the court heard from Ponsford, who told the court he and Willoughby had been friends for about two years. Giving evidence in his own defence, Ponsford told the court how he had brought rope with him to the protest. Asked by his barrister, Tom Wainwright, what was happening when he arrived at the statue, Ponsford said: “There was a black man who confronted the statue saying how he couldn’t bear to look at the statue in the eyes on that day. He was saying: ‘Please don’t take the cloth [which someone had placed over Colston’s head] off.’ “And people were stood around chanting and cheering for the statue to come down.” Ponsford said they were chanting: “Colston must fall, bring him down.” It was then that Ponsford retrieved a black rope from his rucksack and passed it to people who had already climbed the plinth, the court heard. “Those individuals then secured the ropes … around the neck of the statue and then jumped down once they were secured tightly,” he said. Ponsford described how protesters “were jumping to get a chance to hold the rope” and “as many people as possible” took hold of the end he was holding. After he made sure there was no one standing where the statue might fall, he said, he gave a signal. “I believe I put my fist in the air,” he said. “And people started pulling on the rope.” Skuse, Graham, Ponsford and Willoughby all deny criminal damage. The case continues.