London: A mother along with her four-you-old son was racially abused on a train in the UK by a solicitor who called them “foreigners” and told them you “don’t deserve to be in first class”.
Alexander ‘AJ’ MacKinnon, 47, was filmed hurling abuse at Sanaa Shahid and her son Zayn as they travelled home to Glasgow.
“How did you get into first class? You don’t deserve to be in first class,” he sneered at them.
“You should be in common class. In fact, you shouldn’t be in this country at all. You don’t deserve to be here. Bloody foreigners. Where were you even born?” MacKinnon said. MacKinnon also swore at little Zayn. His social media “likes” include Donald Trump, the BNP and the far-right English Defence League.
None of the other passengers in the carriage did anything to help Glasgow-born lawyer Sanaa. But she bravely confronted MacKinnon and branded him a racist.
She reported him to the train manager and transport police took him away in handcuffs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKd5g9gx1KY
MacKinnon admitted a racially aggravated public order offence in connection with the incident that took place on December 29 when he appeared at Carlisle Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
He was fined 1,154 pounds, plus 50 pounds compensation, a 150 pounds victim surcharge and 85 pounds in court costs.
In the video, MacKinnon appears to be very drunk and can be seen drinking red wine straight from a bottle.
Speaking on the phone to a friend, he says, “It’s my word against hers. I’m going to get off the train if it stops at Carlisle and wait for another…she doesn’t belong in this country.
“Now she’ll accuse me of insulting her and discrimination.”
At this point a man who appears to work for Virgin Trains approaches MacKinnon and tells him, “See now it’s not just her word, it’s mine as well because I heard it all.?
“You’ll have to accept you’re a drunken racist and you need to get off the train, the train employee says. MacKinnon says, “I’m not a racist, I love people actually.
“You’re so wonderful wasting police time, miss, and you’re (expletive) son.”
Shahid, herself a lawyer, praised train staff for assisting her during the incident, which took place after the family went to visit her husband Aftab, 36.
MacKinnon’s conviction comes as figures show racially-aggravated hate crime has been on the increase since the Brexit vote last year.