CPS discontinued all charges
On the 10th of July 2024, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) discontinued all charges imposed on Selma Taha, Divina Riggon and Danae Thomas – the #KingsCross3. The CPS attributed this to lack of evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction. Speaking outside Highbury Magistrates’ Court this morning, the defence Barrister Rajiv Menon KC asserted that it’s an outrage for such a case to have been pursued for prosecution in today’s day and age.
I like that “lack of evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction” explanation – which being interpreted means they didn’t do it.
In September 2023, Selma, Divina and Danae were verbally and physically assaulted in a racist incident on London public transport. The assailant, a white woman, made monkey sounds and called the three “Black bitches”, and “slaves”. The abuse escalated into physical violence. The assailant pulled clumps of hair off Selma and Danae and bit Selma’s flesh, leaving a deeply embedded imprint of her teeth which necessitated tetanus and hepatitis injections and antibiotics. An off-duty Metropolitan Detective Constable was present in the tube carriage but failed to intervene to de-escalate the incident. When the train arrived at King’s Cross station, the three women had to challenge the inactivity and apathy of the police officer and ask him to treat the matter seriously and arrest the assailant.
The #KingsCross3 are victim-survivors of a horrific racist attack during which they were not just subjected to trauma inflicted by verbal and physical abuse, but also by the inaction of an off-duty police officer present on the scene. In an utterly incomprehensible and unjustifiable move, instead of charging the assailant, the CPS made the decision to charge Selma, Divina and Danae with common assault by beating. Divina and Danae had also been charged with public order offences, with racial aggravation for Danae, in relation to alleged conduct towards a white British Transport Police (BTP) officer on the platform at King’s Cross after disembarking from the tube, which were eventually dropped on the 2nd of July 2024. The assailant was offered and has accepted a caution for racially aggravated conduct in relation to one instance of racist abuse. No further action was taken against her in relation to other instances of racist abuse or the assault. In a highly unusual move, prior to the trial, the CPS also made applications for special measures such as screens and reporting restrictions including on naming the police officers involved, which were rightfully denied.
The assailant got “a caution.”
Now if the Kings Cross 3 had been trans sisters instead of Southall Black sisters, I daresay the perp would have received more than a caution.
Oh, but as one (former?) commentator here used to say there’s no evidence of systemic racism affecting black and coloured people in western society these days. Yeah, right.
Rob, “there’s no evidence of systemic racism affecting black and coloured people in western society”, mostly because the people who most loudly make that claim are also the people who believe “western society” has already been destroyed by “black and coloured people” and the mooosellems.
Oddly, the black and coloured people in my circles disagree.
Here in Australia, we have recently pilloried one of our most respected female journalists for daring to say Australia is “a racist country”. And how did we do it? By dragging out every racist trope we could think of.
Every day I give thanks to Dog (and my parents) that I was born a white male, and not a woman of any colour.
Whilst I can empathise with the Kingscross3, I cannot possibly imagine what it is like for them to navigate in this world and I am very happy the CPS saw season, but someone in the CPS should get an old fashioned “Liverpool Kiss” for letting it drag on so long and to go that far.
Well it’s a matter of how systematic and what definition of racism you’re using, but obviously it’s not gone away. It’s certainly better than it’s ever been for natives, but xenophobia is certainly at a recent high.