Elham Asaad Buars
A 25 year-old man who threw a Turkish pensioner’s walking frame during a shocking three minute Islamophobic and xenophobic rant on a bus has been jailed for 16 weeks and ordered to pay £320 in court costs on November 5.
Kashif Samuels admitted a racially aggravated public order offence last month. Samuels was travelling towards Tottenham, north London, with his two-year-old daughter on October 15, when he began to hurl abuse at the Muslim man sat across the aisle from him on the 149 service.
The video posted on Youtube shows Samuel making several lewd references to his victim’s family and religion, he also accuses the pensioner of coming to this country for “free benefits”.
Samuels tells the pensioner to “go back to your own country” before shouting: “I’ll put a pig’s c*** in your mouth – what’s Allah going to say about that?”
The clip ends as he tells passengers to “vote UKIP” before grabbing the pensioner’s Zimmer frame and throwing it down the road.
He handed himself in to the police when he saw the video online and was sentenced at Highbury Magistrates’ Court in north London.
Samuels shouted: “You’re talking in a different language but nobody knows what you’re saying. Go back to Turkey if you talk that sh*t. Oh no you can’t because sh*t gets blown up in Turkey. That’s why you’re here mate – free benefits and a walker. Well your walker is going to go flying when this bus stops mate.”
As the bus pulls up to a stop, Samuels continues to threaten the pensioner and asks: “What are you going to do? Nothing.”
Prosecutor Michael Mallon said: “Having referred to the footage it speaks for itself. The victim was not able to be traced.
“It is clear however, and he accepted in interview, that the victim was vulnerable. He was an elderly Turkish gentleman.
“There are a number of aggravating features to this matter. Namely that Mr Samuels was there with his two-year old daughter in a pram.
“This was committed while he was on bail for the first matter. There are a large number of other individuals on the bus.
“It is telling, in my submission, they didn’t intervene given the amount of aggression, there was a very real fear they could come to harm.
“The victim was vulnerable and had a Zimmer frame. Mr Samuel decided to end the incident by throwing the Zimmer frame off the bus.”
In sentencing, Panel Chair, Melvyn Bryant, said: “This was a vulnerable victim, it was a prolonged incident, you had your child present with you, there were other persons present on a bus which is a public place, and you were also on bail.
“However it becomes worse. You targeted someone who is Turkish and Muslim and you throw his Zimmer frame through the door.”
After owning up to the vile rant, Samuels claimed he “lost it” when the pensioner refused to move his Zimmer frame from the push-chair area on the bus.
He said: “That is not the person I want my daughter to see growing up as her father.
“She is going to look at that video [online] one day and I can only hope she looks at it and says ‘that is not the man I know’.
“I will only be honest with her and say I lost my temper and said disgusting things. I would never want to hear that out of her mouth.
“I don’t want to be that person and I want to make a change from today.”
He said many of his Muslim friends were horrified by what he had done and called him up to complain about his “monstrous and disgusting” behaviour. The 25-year-old said: “I can only stand up and apologise for my own actions. I want to apologise to everyone who was affected. I genuinely mean that from the bottom of my heart.”
Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London, Gerallt Evans, said: “Kashif Samuels used abusive anti-Muslim and racist language against the victim and caused distress and alarm to the other passengers on the bus.
“Not only did he shout and swear at the victim but also threw the victim’s walking frame from the bus when it came to a halt.
“This appalling outburst was caught on camera by a public-spirited fellow passenger and left Samuels no choice but to plead guilty.
“Hate crime of any kind will not be tolerated in London.
“Members of the public should be able to travel on the city’s transport network without fear of violence, abuse or harassment and we will continue to work with our police partners to bring those that commit these crimes to justice.”
