A woman who attacked and strangled a 14-year-old Muslim schoolgirl with her own hijab on a local bus in northern England has been released with a mere “caution”.
Redena Al-Hadi, who thought she was going to die when she was strangled with her hijab, was reportedly furious when her attacker was allowed to walk scot-free and terrified of the possibility that she could come face-to-face with her again.
Al-Hadi, accompanied by her friend and sister, was assaulted on Wednesday while on her way home from school on the bus in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
A man mimicked her friend and then another began screaming at her. In response to the racial slur, a young boy stood up and warned him to stop harassing the girl, when a woman began to push and punch him.
“I stood up and said, ‘Don’t do that he is a child,’” Al-Hadi said.
“I then tried to get all the girls off the bus, but the woman came up to my face and started saying my hijab was making her sick. I felt really hurt. She pulled my head down and she dragged me off the bus,’’ she added.
Cellphone recordings shows the 40-year-old woman pinning the 14-year-old Muslim schoolgirl to the floor, punching her in the head and even the eye repeatedly and using girl’s own headscarf to garrote her and a man shouting Islamophobic slurs.
British police, who arrived and found the victim heavily injured and her sister and friend traumatized, had arrested the male and female assailants.
However just one day after the incident, Redena and her family were shocked and horrified when they found out her attacker had been let off with a caution because “this was her first offense.’’
“It makes me feel sick and scared. I don’t want to go to school. How can an adult attack a child for wearing a hijab?’’ Redena told Mirror Online.
“I was a young girl trying to go to home. It makes me feel so targeted. That is who I am. When she was strangling me I thought I was going to die. She shouldn’t be on the streets. She could do this to another Muslim. I am now too scared to leave my house,’’ she added.
The girl’s school also made a statement on the incident.
“We are aware of an incident that has happened outside of school where it appears that some of our students have suffered abuse from members of the public,” said Silverdale School.
“We are supporting the students and their families in any way needed,” it said.
“Given that this is an ongoing police investigation, we won’t be commenting further.”
Islamophobia in the U.K. has shown a sharp rise since the 2017 terror attacks in London and Manchester.
