Dec
2011
Dec
A woman who pleaded guilty to assault after pulling off a Muslim woman's face veil at a Mississauga, Ont., shopping mall has been given a suspended sentence.
Rosemarie Creswell had been charged with pulling the niqab off Inas Kadri as her three-year-old son and two-year-old daughter children watched at the Sheridan Centre mall in August 2010.
Ms. Creswell was one of two women who approached Ms. Kadri out of the blue, swearing at her about Islam and the niqab and telling her to, "Leave our country. Go back to your country," Ms. Kadri told the CBC.
Ms. Creswell, 66, pleaded guilty after seeing video evidence captured by a mall surveillance camera.
She can be seen in the video grabbing Ms. Kadri's veil and pulling her off-camera, and later walking away while Ms. Kadri ran for help.
On Nov. 25 Justice Ian Cowan handed Ms. Creswell a one-year suspended sentence -- meaning she won't serve any time.
He also ruled she must serve 100 hours of community service, and suggested she educate herself about Muslims by attending a mosque.
“Any sort of assault based on the differences people have will not be tolerated,” he remarked. “I think the Canadian public would be very alarmed at your behaviour.”
He said the presence of Ms. Kadri's children was an aggravating factor in the sentence. In her victim impact statement, Ms. Kadri said her son now has nightmares because of the incident.
Ms. Kadri is a schoolteacher with a computer engineering degree from University of Ottawa.
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