Two men fined over racial attack

[Kiwi]

Two men fined over racial attack
15th November 2007, 11:37 WST

A Jewish man who was racially abused in a Melbourne street says he will now consider moving his family back to Australia after the perpetrators were fined by a magistrate.

One of Menachem Vorchheimer's attackers also had a conviction recorded against him for the incident at East St Kilda in Melbourne on October 14 last year.

Mr Vorchheimer was walking to his synagogue with his two children, aged six and three, when a group of about 20 men, most of them from Ocean Grove Football Club, drove past him.

The Melbourne Magistrates Court heard earlier that several of the men, who had been drinking at the Caulfield Cup races, began yelling anti-semitic abuse at him out of the bus windows.

Club captain James Dalton, 28, of Ocean Grove, south-west of Melbourne, then reached out the bus window and took Mr Vorchheimer's sabbath hat and skullcap from his head.

When Mr Vorchheimer chased the bus down the road, he was punched in the eye by an unknown person from the bus.

The court was told Matthew Cuthbert, 24, of Ocean Grove, then said: "I'm not going to apologise to no f***ing Jew".

Magistrate Julian Fitzgerald on Thursday read sections of Mr Vorchheimer's victim impact statement to the court, in which he said "the trauma and indignity" of the attack had forced him to move his family to New York.

Mr Fitzgerald told the court that Dr Efraim Zuroff, from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, has explained in the victim impact statement why the taunt 'Go Nazis' was particularly offensive to people of Jewish descent.

"When an individual yells 'Go Nazis' at a person who is clearly and obviously Jewish, it is invariably done as a form of mockery and humiliation, since there is no group which treated the Jewish people ... in a more cruel, inhumane way with such catastrophic results," Mr Fitzgerald read.

Mr Fitzgerald fined Dalton $1,000 after he earlier pleaded guilty to one charge of offensive behaviour. No conviction was recorded against him.

Cuthbert was fined $750 and had a conviction recorded against him after he pleaded guilty to using insulting language.

Mr Fitzgerald said he had taken into account Dalton had no prior convictions, while Cuthbert had a previous drink-driving conviction.

In April, another man on the bus, 21-year-old Simon Christian from Ocean Grove, was convicted of using insulting words in a public place and fined $1,000 over his part in the incident.

Both Dalton and Cuthbert would not comment outside court.

Mr Vorchheimer said outside court he was satisfied with the magistrate's decision.

"I think the judge (sic) had a quandary before him and I think his determination is a fair and balanced one," Mr Vorchheimer told reporters.

"He endorsed that the actions of the offenders on that day were racist and anti-semitic, and I think that is the larger message that comes out of it."

Mr Vorchheimer said he would now consider moving his family back to Melbourne.

"We hope to be able to do so soon," he said.

Norman Rosenbaum, a barrister and friend of Mr Vorchheimer, said the court's ruling would serve as a reminder to the community that racial attacks would not be tolerated.

"A clear, unequivocal message has been sent and must continue to be sent to the racist amongst us, that this type of behaviour is not only unacceptable, but will be punished and the full weight of the law will be brought down upon them," Mr Rosenbaum said.
AAP

[newman]

Attacks on muSSlim pigs would NOT be so lightly delt with!

[AussieJTFer]

The Ocean Grove football club did receive threats from various Jews after this incident, good to see some Jews here with a spine. I would still have preferred the entire group of country inbreds to be burnt alive in their minibus however.

[Kiwi]

Interesting more to this story 


Racist attack on Jews in our midst
Christopher Bantick
November 22, 2007

THE decision handed down at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court against two Ocean Grove Football Club players has not ended what is a racist matter.

Captain and best-and-fairest winner James Dalton and Matthew Cuthbert were found guilty over a racist attack last year on Jewish businessman and father Menachem Vorchheimer.

Magistrate Julian Fitz-Gerald fined Dalton $1000 without a conviction being recorded for the charge of offensive behaviour.

Dalton removed Vorchheimer’s Sabbath hat and yarmulke as he walked with his two children to a synagogue in East St Kilda.

Cuthbert was fined $750 and convicted on the charge of using insulting words in a public place.

Cuthbert had called Vorchheimer, a “f…..g Jew”.

Another man on the bus, Simon Christian, 21, was convicted and fined $1000 in April. He pleaded guilty to using insulting words after he chanted “go Nazis” during the attack.

By any measure, the actions of the footballers were unprovoked, unwarranted and appallingly racist. Moreover, Vorchheimer was physically assaulted by an unknown bus occupant. Vorchheimer’s children, who witnessed the attack, were severely traumatised by what they saw.

If Vorchheimer had not taken the issue further, a busload of boozy footballers would have got away with a bit of Jew baiting.

But the matter would not seem to have ended. There has been no mention of any inquiry by Ocean Grove Football Club into what happened on the bus carrying more than 20 footballers.

More critical is who “smacked” Vorchheimer in the face with a fist. The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission is concerned that justice is still to be done.

B’nai B’rith chairman Michael Lipshutz and executive officer Manny Waks have issued a joint statement saying:

“The pressure should now be turned on the Ocean Grove Football Club to co-operate with police in order that the perpetrator who violently assaulted Mr Vorchheimer is brought to justice without further delay.

“We are not being vindictive and nor are we seeking retribution. We are simply urging for the Club to demonstrate accountability and are demanding justice for Vorchheimer, the Jewish community and for that matter the wider Australian community, who have overwhelmingly supported Vorchheimer,” said Lipshutz and Waks.

The challenge is squarely before Ocean Grove Football Club to admit that someone on the bus committed an assault on a Jewish father walking with his children to a synagogue.

It is unpalatable to speculate that some misguided loyalty at the club to one’s mates is protecting the identity of whoever assaulted Vorchheimer.

But a code of silence over dobbing-in amounts to protection of a bully and a craven lack of responsibility.

The club is deserving of public shame. Bashing Jews is not acceptable.

Let’s cut to the chase here. Three footballers have been punished for not only offensive behaviour, but racist, anti-Semitic language. They did not turn themselves in.

And the “big man” at Ocean Grove who belted a Jewish dad in front of his kids is no hero.