Teenage brothers guilty of rabbi attack

Two teenage brothers have been found guilty of an antisemitic attack on a rabbi.

The boys, aged 15 and 16, shouted “F*** Jews”, “Dirty Jew” and “Kill the Jews” as the man walked through Amhurst Park in Clapton, north London, on 29 November.

Prosecutors said the pair ran off laughing after repeatedly kicking the victim, named in court papers as Joshua Lazenga, 54, to the ground.

Lazenga, who had travelled to the UK from Israel to attend a wedding, had his glasses knocked off and suffered an injured back and bleeding finger.

The teenagers, who are from Hackney, east London, but cannot be named because of their age, handed themselves in to police after Scotland Yard released CCTV images.

They were found guilty of racially or religiously aggravated assault by beating on Thursday following a two-day trial at Stratford Magistrates’ Court, and will be sentenced on 21 July, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Prosecutor Peter Alexandrou said: “This was an unprovoked and despicable act against a Jewish man who was holidaying in the UK.

“He was clearly targeted in this hate crime and should not have been subjected to such behaviour in our society.

“The prosecution case included strong witness evidence and CCTV footage of the attack, as well as CCTV tracking the defendants leaving the scene after the assault.

“I hope these convictions provide the victim with some closure and show just how seriously the CPS takes hate crime, which has a corrosive effect on our society and will be prosecuted robustly.”

The victim reported the attack to neighbourhood patrol group Shomrim, who said at the time that he had left the Bobov Synagogue in Egerton Road and was walking along Clapton Common when he was assaulted.

Shomrim said the rabbi was left “collapsed on the pavement, bleeding and dazed, where he lay for several minutes”.

Fellow rabbi Herschel Gluck said the victim, who sits in a Judaic court as a judge, was “bruised and traumatised” by his ordeal.