COVID-19: Teenager who hurled racial abuse and spat on woman has been charged


Image: Screengrab from video

A teenage girl has been charged after she allegedly spat at and verbally abused two women in the Inner West yesterday.

The woman allegedly attempted to kick one of the girls, before a bystander intervened and told her to leave.

As she walked away, she allegedly spat towards the younger woman – hitting her in the eye – before leaving the scene.

Video footage allegedly showed sisters Sophie, 23, and Rosa Do, 19, being racially abused and assaulted while they were crossing Petersham Rd in Marrickville on Monday. The two young sisters were accused of bringing coronavirus to Australia.

The 19-year-old was assisted by witnesses to flush her eye out and seek medical assistance.

The incident has triggered a debate amongst the wider community about the ramifications of racial intonations associated with COVID-19. World leaders, media, and accordingly home environments have been urged to not refer COVID-19 as a ‘chinese virus’, or any other racial identification. A direct relation between associating the disease with Chinese, or any other Asian community, has led to a spike in hate-filled crimes, as in case in Marrickville.

Police will allege in court about 3pm (Monday 30 March 2020), two women aged, 23 and 19, were crossing Petersham Road at Illawarra Road, when a woman approached and verbally abused them with racial slurs.

The incident was reported to officers from Inner West Police Area Command, who commenced an investigation into the incident.

Following inquiries, a 17-year-old woman was arrested in Marrickville about 12.15pm today (Tuesday 31 March 2020).

She was taken to Newtown Police Station and charged with three counts of common assault, use offensive language in/near public place, and two counts of attempt stalk/intimidate intend fear of harm.

The teenager was granted conditional bail to appear before a Children’s Court on Friday 1 May 2020.

Police spoke with a second teenage girl who was released without charge.