Decision to drop religiously aggravated charge ‘baffles’ community

A decision by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to drop racially or religiously aggravated elements against a man who attacked identifiably Jewish victims in London last summer has been described as “baffling”.

Abdullah Qureshi, 28, pleaded guilty at Thames Magistrates this week to a spate of assaults in the Stamford Hill area over two hours on August 18 last year.

But when the charges were originally brought, they included one count of racially or religiously aggravated wounding or grievous bodily harm, four counts of racially or religiously aggravated common assault and one count of racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage.

By the time the case reached Thames Magistrates, the racial and religious elements of the charges had been dropped, and instead, Qureshi, of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to one counts of common assault and one count of wounding or grievous bodily harm. He will be sentenced in May.

All the victims, ranging from a child to a 64-year-old man, were identifiably Orthodox Jews.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism has denounced the CPS decision as “betraying Jewish victims”.

Its Investigations director, Stephen Silverman, said: “In a violent spree, Abdulla Qureshi attacked innocent Jews as he came across them in the street… It is disgraceful that, once again, the CPS has proved to be the weak link in our collective effort to secure justice and protection for British Jews”.

Dave Rich of the CST told Jewish News that the victims were only made aware of the CPS decision when the court session began.

“We have been supporting one of the victims of the assaults and he told us immediately. We have now raised this matter with the CPS at the highest level and asked for an investigation as to why this decision was made”.

Rich acknowledged that there might have been evidence of which the CST was unaware, but noted: “On the face of it, he singled out Jews to attack. It is baffling”.

Victims can be offered a meeting with the CPS to ask officials the thinking behind their prosecution strategy, and the victim supported by CST has been advised to seek such a meeting.

It might also be possible, Rich said, for the prosecution to ask for a Section 145 uplift at sentencing, despite the racial and religious element being removed from the charges, which could mean a longer sentence for Qureshi.