A 33-year-old woman was found guilty on Friday for a violent, seemingly completely gratuitous attack on a taxi driver. After multiplying the racist insults towards the man, the accused attacked him with a metal bar.
The events occurred in Quebec City around 7 a.m. on the morning of December 15, 2022.
The taxi driver, who was parked, saw a car stop near him. The driver, Sara Terzini, then begins to insult him for no apparent reason.
“She shouts remarks at him that we describe as hateful and racist,” explained the Crown prosecutor, Mr.e Fabien Villemaire. “She calls him a “dirty Arab”, a “crazy n***”. She said to him: “What are you doing here, I’m racist. Get out of here”.”
From insults to blows
Sara Terzini then got out of her car and attacked her victim’s vehicle, hitting it with her fists.
The driver then drove away, but the woman returned after returning to her car to retrieve a metal bar. The accused violently hit the hood of the taxi vehicle.
Photo taken from Sara Terzini’s Facebook page
It was when the victim got out of his car that the attack took a turn that could have been dramatic. Sara Terzini attacked the taxi driver by hitting him with a metal bar.
“From the first blow, the victim was able to stop the bar and control the lady. There was then an altercation which led to the injuries,” underlined the defense lawyer, Ms.e Myralie Roussin.
The taxi driver suffered a cut to his face and injuries to his hands, in addition to pain in his pelvis.
Hate crime?
Sara Terzini pleaded Friday morning that she had no memory of the events due to her state of intoxication at the time. Faced with this fact, Judge Steve Magnan refused to ratify her guilty plea, preferring to proceed to a short trial by admission, where she was found guilty of assault with a weapon and assault causing harm.
A pre-sentence report was requested, since the positions of the parties are likely to diverge in the future.
The Crown has already announced its intention to argue that the accused’s crime was motivated by hatred linked to the ethnic origin of his victim. A position that the defense will contest.
“You will argue that her words went beyond her thoughts because she was intoxicated,” Judge Magnan asked the defense, who confirmed this intention.
The case will return to court next March for observations on the sentence to be imposed on the woman. A pre-sentence report was requested by the parties.