Summary Incidents of hate crime are on the rise in the UK
(Web Desk) - A man in the UK was jailed after he abused and insulted two Muslim women before hitting one in the face with an open packet of bacon.
According to The Independent, the incident occurred when the man, who was later identified as Alex Chivers, began making insulting comments to a Muslim teen as she and her mother were walking down a road in Enfield, north London. After calling the girl "ISIS scum" and screaming “you deserve this”, Alex struck the teen in the face with an open packet of bacon. According to Scotland Yard this act did not cause any physical harm to the victim although it did leave her deeply distressed. The whole incident took place June 8.
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Alex Chivers was arrested six days after the incident.Photo courtesy:Google Images
Six days later Alex, who is from Waltham Cross, was arrested by the police and charged with racially or religiously aggravated common assault as well as causing racially or religiously aggravated alarm or distress. After appearing at the Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court Alex pled guilty to both counts after which he was sentenced to 26 weeks’ imprisonment for the assault and 12 weeks’ imprisonment for a public order offence – to run concurrently.
DC James Payne from Enfield Community Safety Unit took notice of the incident saying that it was truly deplorable. He also said that other people were present at the time of the assault, including a companion of his who filmed the entire event, and that efforts were underway to try to identify them.
According to the London’s Metropolitan Police hate crimes of this nature go largely unreported and unnoticed adding that it “stands together with policing partners, colleagues and groups to investigate all hate crime allegations, support victims and their families, and bring perpetrators to justice”.
Hate crimes have considerably risen in London with police figures released in March showing a definite increase in hate related offences over the previous year. Victims of religious and racist hate crime had risen by almost 20 per cent, from 14,004 to 16,618, and victims of faith hate have seen an 18 per cent increase from 1,699 to 2,000.
