A South Otago man who told two service station workers they were a “sh…. bl…. Indian’’ has been convicted and fined, but says he will appeal the decision.
Robert Graham Mathieson, 62, a pensioner of Clinton, represented himself at a judge-alone trial before JPs Drewe Carran and Judy Smart in the Gore District Court on Wednesday.
Mathieson, who was charged with using insulting language in a public place, was convicted and fined $300 but told the JPs they had ‘’made the wrong decision’’ and he was going to appeal the sentence.
Mathieson had gone to the RD Petroleum Express service station at Clinton to put air in his car tyres on his way to church on the morning of December 10.
The air compressor was not working, and he had a brief altercation with a worker at the station before the manager Sidharan Akhil Paininnal arrived.
Paininnal, who lived in the same block of flats as Mathieson in the South Otago town, gave evidence that their relationship was “not very friendly” and he had had cameras installed at his flat because he did not feel safe there.
When Mathieson arrived at the station he was ‘’upset’’ and his face ‘’looked angry’’, Paininnal said.
He said Mathieson yelled at him when he learned the air compressor was not working.
“He called me a sh…. bl…. Indian, that is what he called me … and other words. He said I was a shame to my country.
“It made me feel bad. I’m from India, you know, I’m from India, but doesn’t mean that you can call someone a sh…. Indian,’’ he said.
Paininnal’s co-worker, Abhinave Alankassery Sajeev, said he had not understood what Mathieson had previously said to him about the air compressor, but he understood when he had called him a ‘’sh…. bl…. Indian’’.
Mathieson told the court he was on his way to church when he called in at the service station to pump up the tyres in his unregistered vehicle.
He said he never swore, the words ‘’bl….’’ and ‘’sh….’’ were not in his vocabulary and he had worked with indigenous communities in Australia, so he was not racist, he said.
“I certainly disagree with any claim, any claim that he’s made against me for making derogatory remarks to anyone that day,’’ he told the court.
“It’s a terrible thing to be falsely accused of such a matter, and it has been a great detriment for myself and other members of the community who know me.”
However, he admitted he had told a police officer delivering his court summons that in his experience, “all Southern Indians are liars” but in court he said that comment had been taken out of context because ‘’it was an historical fact in the Second World War that there was a non-reliance with the honesty of people from that part of India’’.
He said he was ‘’disappointed’’ when he had learned the air compressor was not working but believed Paininnal would not help him because he did not like him.
Delivering the JPs’ judgments, Carran said Mathieson did use insulting words that did offend, insult and alarm the people who the words were directed at.
“Mitigating factors may have been that the language used was in passing or was behaviour that was a momentary reaction. Nevertheless, a person should not be or feel alarmed or insulted, as in this case. We find the charge proven beyond reasonable doubt and Mr Mathieson guilty as charged,’’ he said.
Extracted in full from: https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/350411319/racist-tirade-service-station-attendants-leads-conviction
