Two adults and a teenaged girl were convicted of a “vicious and brutal” attack on a Muslim mother and daughter in Eltham, south-east London, last year. Paul Anderson, 37, Joanna Farrer, 38, along with a 13 year old, who was aged 12 at the time of the assault, have each been found guilty of two counts of religiously aggravated actual bodily harm after a two-week trial.
A jury at the Woolwich Crown Court was told how the younger victim, a 23 year old woman, wearing a traditional Muslim dress including a pink hijab and a long black Abaya, was thrown to the ground by Anderson while the other two attackers tried to rip off her headscarf. The victims, A 42 year old mother and her daughter, were left emotionally and physically violated as they were kicked and punched by the teen who cannot be named for legal reasons.
The younger victim was driving along Middle Park Avenue on her way to visit a relative when the girl and a boy began to cross the road despite there being no zebra or pelican crossing. She however, stopped the car to allow them to pass when the girl gesticulated towards her. The victim continued on her way to meet her mother in Eltham Hill, when she stopped and the boy and girl walked past again, with the latter shouting racist abuses. The elder victim told the two that they had crossed the road in a dangerous spot and an argument began.
This was when the girl attacked her before walking away, only to return with Anderson and Farrer later and launching a full-grown assault. The attack only ended when the younger victim flagged down a passing ambulance prompting the suspects to flee. They were however, caught by the police with the help of a taxi driver who witnessed the assault. Detective Inspector Melanie Pressley of Greenwich Community Safety Unit, said, “This was a brutal and completely unnecessary attack on two Muslim women who were racially abused and then assaulted. I have no doubt the attack would have continued had it not been for the passing ambulance one of the victims was able to flag down.”
“The victims were left terrified by what happened and lived in fear they would be targeted again. The older victim was too afraid to leave her house for some time. It is shocking that the instigator of this attack was just 12 years old and I hope having a conviction to her name at such a young age will be a wake up call and encourage her to change her ways.”
Anderson, of Sevenoaks Road, Brockley, was jailed for three years and four months and ordered to pay £2,000 compensation to the victims. Farrer, of William Barefoot Drive, Eltham, will be sentenced on April 21, while the girl will be sentenced at Bromley Youth Court on a date to be set.
