Man admits racially aggravated assault on Jewish man in Slough

A man has admitted racially aggravated assault after being filmed abusing an Orthodox Jewish man and accusing him of “killing babies”.

Shafiq Rahman, 48, pleaded guilty to racially aggravated common assault, fear or provocation of violence by words and criminal damage at Reading Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

The victim had been working in Elliman Avenue, Slough, Berkshire, on April 20 when Rahman cycled past and started shouting abuse at him.

A video of the attack, in which Rahman called the victim a “dirty Jew”, accused him of “killing babies in Palestine” and threatened to “break his jaw”, was shown in court.

District Judge Devinder Sandhu described the attack as a “pure hate crime”.

She added: “I am appalled and startled by what I saw on that footage, a completely unprovoked attack on a man who was simply doing his job.”

Rahman appeared in the dock wearing a grey prison jumper and spoke to confirm his name, address and date of birth and admit the charges.

Anushka A, prosecuting, said: “The victim was in the area for some work with his professional commitments, the defendant was on his bicycle, he has shouted ‘Jew, what are you f****** doing here Jew’.”

She added: “I believe the victim was wearing a kippah and believes that for this reason he was targeted in this attack.”

The victim, who gave his name to the BBC as Moshe, was not in court, but part of a statement he gave to police was read out.

It read: “This incident has changed my perspective on what it is to be a Jew openly in public.”

He said that while he had “read about attacks on the news” he had not experienced anything like it before and felt “physically targeted due to my religion”.

Judge Sandhu released Rahman on bail noting that her “hands were tied” to be sentenced at Reading Crown Court along with other matters on July 10.

The police had earlier confirmed that Rahman had been arrested and charged, saying: “Shafiq Rahman, aged 48, of Lismore Park, Slough, has been charged with one count of racially/religiously aggravated common assault, racially/religiously aggravated fear/provocation of violence by words and criminal damage.

“The charge relates to an incident that occurred in Slough on Monday (20/4)

Shomrim, the Jewish organisation which operates security patrols in areas with large Jewish communities, shared the video on social media, describing it as an “abhorrent, vile and unprovoked antisemitic assault.

“A visibly Orthodox Jewish man was minding his own business whilst at work, when he was subjected to this shocking, unprovoked attack”, the group said.

A spokesperson for CST said: “This unprovoked assault and the antisemitic abuse directed at a Jewish man simply doing his job is utterly abhorrent”, going on to confirm that they were supporting the victim.