Teen fined £20 for putting lit fireworks in Jewish peoples’ pockets

Jewish security supervisors in Stamford Hill have said the £20 fine handed to a 14-year old boy who put lit fireworks in Jewish pedestrians’ pockets “sent the wrong message to victims”.

Moshe Monitz of volunteer force Shomrim said: “The CPS and Ministry of Justice should consider the impact that a crime has upon its victim and the message it sends to all victims in general. There is so much talk about a zero tolerance approach to hate crime, but it is important that it should not be mere words.”

The boy was fined £20 and given an extended compliance period by the Hackney Youth Offender Panel after he was arrested in January on suspicion of racially aggravated common assault in Dunsmure Road in January.

The teenager, whose name was not released, was detained at the scene by Shomrim volunteers, but Monitz this week expressed his disappointment at the perceived leniency of the boy’s punishment.

He said: “The outcome in this case unfortunately sends out a wrong message to victims, a sense of why bother if justice will not be served.”