A 40-year-old Singaporean woman, Siti Ai'sha Jaffar, has been sentenced to four weeks' jail for shouting racial insults at a passenger while they were both on board bus service 182.
According to court documents seen by Mothership, the victim is a 33-year-old Singaporean of Indian ethnicity.
What happened
At about 9:30am on September 3, 2020, the victim boarded bus service 182 at Tuas Checkpoint. She sat at the back of the bus' lower deck.
At that time, Siti Ai’sha was the only passenger on the lower deck and she was seated near the bus captain at the front of the bus.
While on the bus, the victim listened to music on her earpiece. But sometime later, she saw Siti Ai’sha staring and pointing at her multiple times.
The victim then switched off her music. That was when she heard Siti Ai’sha shouting racist remarks at her, calling her an "Indian with dark skin".
The victim then took out her mobile phone and recorded the incident discreetly.
After recording Siti Ai’sha for a short while, the victim confronted her and asked if there was anything wrong.
Siti Ai’sha continued hurling racist remarks with expletives at the victim.
The victim then called the police and informed the bus captain to stop the bus at the incident location, near the Singapore Discovery Centre.
What she said to the victim
According to court documents, three video clips were retrieved from the victim’s mobile phone.
Siti Ai’sha was shouting racist remarks at the victim for over seven minutes.
Some of the remarks she said include, as stated in court documents:
- "Your heart is also black ... everything is black ... your f***ing face, your f***ing shit black Indian face"
- "... Stupid black magic all come from you, from your race Indians, black magic are from Indians, not from the Chinese, not from the Malays, but from the Indians, famous for magic, famous for that Indians”
Given a deterrent sentence
According to The Straits Times, two video clips of the incident were played in court on Wednesday (June 23).
Siti Ai’sha was present during the court hearing via video link. She was unrepresented.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Kwang Jia Min said that the verbal abuse was "entirely unprovoked" and prolonged, as reported by CNA.
Kwang urged the court to pass a deterrent sentence for Siti Ai’sha .
Yahoo reported that Kwang had also cited recent spate of incidents of racial abuse in public.
District Judge Tan Jen Tse agreed to give Siti Ai’sha a deterrent sentence, saying that her offence was "serious".
He added, according to CNA, that cases of racial abuse cannot be condoned in our society.
For her offence, Siti Ai’sha could have been jailed up to three years, fined, or both.
Top image by Tobi Law via Unsplash.