A woman was captured on camera shoving an elderly woman into a moving bus and making a hateful remark. However, despite being found guilty of racially aggravated assault, the perpetrator was allowed to walk free.
This case involves the racially aggravated assault of a pensioner by a woman notoriously dubbed the “Pemlico Pusher.” After 40-year-old London resident, Amelia Doris was caught on CCTV attacking Linda Lancaster, who is in her 60s, there was no denying the assault occurred. The question was whether or not the culprit perpetrated the crime due to racism.
As the demand for equity drives forward, racial justice remains at the forefront of the social justice movement. However, many are questioning if the fight against racism includes all forms of injustice or only those perceived against certain demographics.
Doris cleared up the mystery when she admitted to calling her victim a racial slur before shoving the elderly woman into a moving bus. The attack occurred when the women left a supermarket following an argument at the checkout, The Sun reports. Doris believed that Lancaster’s basket had bumped her young son’s head, and she launched into a threatening tirade, prosecutor John Livingston said.
“Ms. Doris started shouting, she raised her voice,” said Mr. Livingston. “She started shouting at Ms. Lancaster and at one point said ‘you’ve met the wrong woman, you white b***h’.”
Lancaster quickly exited the store and walked around the block on Vauxhall Bridge Road in an effort to avoid Doris. However, the pair crossed paths shortly after and Doris body-checked Lancaster, sending her tumbling off the sidewalk and into the street as a bus pulled up to the curb. Lancaster fell headfirst into the passenger doors as the bus rolled to a stop past her. Had she been pushed a second or two earlier, she likely would have been run over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aho9t9O4-VY
Lancaster sustained a gash to the head, muscle injury to her shoulder, and cuts and bruises on her ankles, shins, and knees, according to the Daily Mail. The prosecutor confirmed that the assault has had a “considerable impact” on her mental health and that she now suffers from post-traumatic stress. She has since moved out of the city for fear of running into Doris again.
“She says ‘This has caused me to suffer from post traumatic stress, for which I am receiving ongoing counselling for’ because she had just come out of the hospital having had major surgery. She says she is not a confrontational person. She too points out is lucky not be worse injured in the physical sense. She says she found the incident extremely scary,” said the prosecutor.
Doris put up no fight in court, admitting to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and racially aggravated assault by beating. However, despite the seriousness of her crimes, she wouldn’t set foot in jail. Instead, Judge Sally Cahill handed down a 10-month suspended sentence as well as 6 months of mental health treatment and an order to spend 26 days in rehab.
“She is 40 years old, of good character but has quite a lot of traumatic history,” Darryl Cherrett, defending, said. “She currently has supporting mental health workers with her.”
The attack appeared to have been premeditated, considering that Doris had threatened Lancaster to “watch what happens when you come out.” Upon hearing this, Lancaster circled the block after exiting the store in order to keep Doris from seeing where her car was parked.
Unfortunately, Doris was still at the front of the store when Lancaster came back around the block. She once again became “very aggressive” and proceeded to shove Lancaster into the moving bus before fleeing with her young child.
The defense portrayed the assault as an isolated incident brought about by Doris’s mental deficiency and learning disability. Although she was charged accordingly, hardly anything was said regarding the racial aspect of her brutality.
Despite nearly killing a non-confrontational elderly woman and racially disparaging her, an aggressive attacker has been spared jail. The case leaves many wondering if this is the racial justice for which activists are advocating.
