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Man Jailed for Racist Threats to Bus Passenger

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  • Man Jailed for Racist Threats to Bus Passenger

    Good news from Down Under as a couple of nasties contemplate a bit of jail time. In November of 2011 footage taken on a suburban Melbourne bus showing several passengers threatening some French girls for singing in their native language. The footage is deeply disturbing and the behaviour both disgraceful & criminal. I've seen it enough times that I don't care to see it again, but it is on youtube. I heard a while back that several people had been questioned, but I hadn't heard any more. Looks like the Police have been doing their job. It is important to note here that the criminal issue isn't just the racism, but the verbal assault. It is one thing to make an offensive statement about a particular race, it is entirely another to abuse someone personally for the same reason. Can't say I'm sad that they will be spending some time in jail.

    When this footage surfaced the general response here was disgust. These attitudes are not common, but they certainly exist. While I would argue that racist attitudes have been in steep decline for several generations in Australia, there are a minority that hold to them. Worse, for close to 20 years a segment of the political spectrum & attached commentariat have convinced such people that they are 'victims of political correctness'. As a result 'I've got a right to my opinion' has become the only defence some people seem to need for the most appalling attitudes. Deeper exploration is not needed. Racism is by its nature a stupid prejudice, so its adherents often take signals on acceptable behaviour from such political messages. As a result the visibility of racism in Australia can mislead people as to its prevalence while buttressing those with their own prejudices about Australia. The preparedness of Police to act in this case is heartening, though I doubt it will get the publicity overseas that the footage received.

    One of the positive aspects of this conviction is the message it will send. It has been widely reported in Melbourne today. Any sense of empowerment racists might have felt in seeing this video will be taken away. Conversely people will feel more empowered to intervene & report such behaviour. If people feel there will be consequences for such behaviour their cowardice will get the better of them. Apparently one of these men has already had his life ruined as a result of being identified. Good. I hope other morons are paying attention.


    One man is in jail and another is awaiting sentence for racially abusing a French woman on a Melbourne bus, in violent, expletive-ridden tirades that gained international attention.

    Hayden Stirling Stewart, 25, was taken into custody on Friday for his rant against Fanny Desaintjores and her friends while on a bus travelling between Mordialloc and Highett on November 11, 2012.

    David Robert Mathew Graham, 36, also faces a jail term for what magistrate Jennifer Goldsborough described as the most vile, horrible and violent language she had heard in 17 years of sitting on the bench.

    The tirades were captured on video with a passenger's mobile phone and gained international notoriety. The video had been viewed more than four million times since it was uploaded to YouTube, Moorabbin Magistrates Court heard.

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    Stewart, his then partner, Alixx Guest, and Graham threatened and abused Ms Desaintjores when she and her friends began singing in French, the court heard.

    Stewart said he would cut the woman with a box cutter, while Graham told her to "speak English or die" and said he would cut her breasts off with a filleting knife. Graham also made reference to the colour of the woman's skin and made references to slavery, the court heard.

    Senior Constable Paul Collins, prosecuting, said when Stewart and Guest got off the bus with their daughter, Stewart smashed a window of the bus with his first, covering passengers in glass.

    Stewart, 25, of Hampton East, previously pleaded guilty to threatening to inflict serious injury, behaving in an insulting manner in public and causing intentional damage.

    He was taken into custody and will be assessed for mental-health issues before he is formally sentenced on March 20.

    Graham was annoyed at having to catch a bus between Mordialloc and Caulfield railway stations when he abused the woman, mainly while he spoke to a friend on his mobile phone, the court heard.

    Defence counsel Manny Nicolosi agreed the language Graham used was disgusting, and said his client had been sacked from his job as a builder's labourer and evicted from his rental property in the aftermath.

    He said Graham had suffered immense embarrassment from his actions that day.

    "Andy Warhol said everyone once had their 15 minutes of fame, but this man has had his 15 months of infamy," Mr Nicolosi said.

    Graham pleaded guilty to making a threat to inflict serious injury and behaving in an offensive manner in public. Two other charges were struck out.

    Mr Nicolosi said his client had had a problem with alcohol and had made substantial efforts to stop drinking since the incident.

    Ms Goldsborough indicated she would likely send Graham to jail given the violent, sexist and offensive nature of his remarks. She said racist comments were the least of his concerns given the threats he made were aggravated because there were about 20 people on the bus, including children.

    Graham said he had spent periods living on the streets since being evicted.

    "Anything you can do is nothing compared to what I've been through the past 12 months," he told the magistrate.

    Graham was bailed to return to court for sentence on March 20.

    Ms Goldsborough said Graham also needed to undergo mental-health assessment before he was sentenced.

    Read more: Man jailed for racist bus rant
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  • #2
    There's no way to argue with this one.

    Stewart, his then partner, Alixx Guest, and Graham threatened and abused Ms Desaintjores when she and her friends began singing in French, the court heard.

    Stewart said he would cut the woman with a box cutter, while Graham told her to "speak English or die" and said he would cut her breasts off with a filleting knife. Graham also made reference to the colour of the woman's skin and made references to slavery, the court heard.

    Senior Constable Paul Collins, prosecuting, said when Stewart and Guest got off the bus with their daughter, Stewart smashed a window of the bus with his first, covering passengers in glass.

    Stewart, 25, of Hampton East, previously pleaded guilty to threatening to inflict serious injury, behaving in an insulting manner in public and causing intentional damage.
    Butttt, the singing in french thing got my attention. Once in Manchester got in a cab to go to a club. me and about 3 other french dudes. We were really hammered. So what do you do. Start singing french drinking songs at the top of your voice. Fanchon is a favourite with the rugby lot as well. These songs translated into english are just obscene & sexually explicit but its not like the english cabbie understood any of it. French & English might have been at each others necks for 800 out of a thousand years but when it comes to rugby are both on the same page. Its a lifestyle, the behaviour & culture is all the same. No ultra-nationalist crap at all.

    cabbie then drives us into a dark alleyway. Stops the car and asks me..

    are you taking the piss ?

    I said we're pissed, we've engaged you to take us somewhere. It does not say anywhere we can't sing. Why don't you just do your job, we'll pay you. No, either we shut up or we get down. It's his car. private car blah blah. Ok. so we stopped singing and otherwise slagged him off in French until he dropped us where we wanted to go. Fin. We had a good night clowning around town & being lads.

    Another time in France, i'm on the way to work. I've had a friend visit me from the UK, so we talk in english on a public bus. There was this one guy that kept abusing us for being english. Going on about history blah bla. I understood every word he said but just played dumb. Easy to do. Then later one of my colleagues joins us and we revert back to French. I tell him about the twat at the back and what he was saying and how we were abusing him in english without him being any the wiser. Not a peep out of that guy for the rest of the trip.

    As a result 'I've got a right to my opinion' has become the only defence some people seem to need for the most appalling attitudes. Deeper exploration is not needed.
    I happen to be one of those people. it's one thing to abuse people for where they come from. But its quite another to threaten them with violence over it. They lost the plot. These guys crossed the line. Not one to use the 'r' word if i can avoid it but this one of those times where it applies.

    On a side note i can understand English vs French attitudes given the historical baggage but what have the French done to Aussies or even Americans to merit similar animosity ?
    Last edited by Double Edge; 17 Jan 14,, 18:06.

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    • #3
      As an American, I've heard disparaging jokes about the French when they decline to go along with our foreign policy. The phrase "cheese eating surrender monkeys" was floated around a bit when the U.S. was invading Iraq. That being said, I can't recall any actual animosity or hatred being directed towards the French. I recall a sense of exasperation or indifference towards the French on occasion, but in general I believe Americans think of the French as one of our oldest friends.

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      • #4
        I would say we have a greater problem with hispanics than the french.
        Removing a single turd from the cesspool doesn't make any difference.

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        • #5
          Slightly off topic, if you want to understand what the English (and by extension, Americans and Aussies) have against the French, I recommend reading "1000 Years of Annoying the French".
          Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

          Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

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          • #6
            Ben, i understand the Brit thing but what about the Aussies & Americans. Does the Brit thing come over culturally ? doubt it.

            americans go on about how they kicked the Brits out and won their independence, very proud of it. But they stick to imperial measures and refuse to go metric. why ? because its french. The whole saga about 'freedom' fries. Recall reading some pretty biting articles about France in the nytimes of all places. These are just anecdotes.

            How does singing french songs in a bus in Melbourne result in such an outburst. Could we just put it down to mental instability. Some people are prone to irrational outbursts. if you look at BF's comment's he's happy these guys got caught. Well, why wouldn't they. Let's remove the french angle from this story and you have two people where one is threatening to kill the others. the cops would be called and if the witnesses corroborate, the offender would be doing time. This is how its supposed to be.
            Last edited by Double Edge; 17 Jan 14,, 23:50.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Double Edge View Post
              americans go on about how they kicked the Brits out and won their independence, very proud of it. But they stick to imperial measures and refuse to go metric. why ? because its french. The whole saga about 'freedom' fries. Recall reading some pretty biting articles about France in the nytimes of all places. These are just anecdotes.
              Double Edge,

              While it is inefficient for Americans to continue on with the imperial system instead of switching to metric, it has nothing to do with the fact that metric is French. It is far more a matter of inertia than anything else. It would be a serious undertaking to switch 300 million people from one system of measurement to another. Doesn’t mean it hasn’t been proposed before or that it won’t eventually happen. If anything, it is due to the fact that until after the World Wars, the United States was rather isolationist and wanted to keep Europeans out of the Western Hemisphere all together.

              The episode with the “freedom fries” and media articles critical of France mostly came down to the fact that Americans assumed their friends the French would help them fight in Iraq. When France decided not to help, many Americans felt betrayed. This was amplified by the fact that most Americans at the time connected the war in Iraq with the attacks on (9/11). Even so, the anger was never really directed at the French as a people as much as it was against the French government. A similar backlash against the British took place more recently when the British declined to support the U.S. against Syria. (It wasn’t as pronounced since no invasion ever materialized, but it was definitely there)

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              • #8
                Originally posted by SteveDaPirate View Post
                Double Edge,

                While it is inefficient for Americans to continue on with the imperial system instead of switching to metric, it has nothing to do with the fact that metric is French. It is far more a matter of inertia than anything else. It would be a serious undertaking to switch 300 million people from one system of measurement to another. Doesn’t mean it hasn’t been proposed before or that it won’t eventually happen. If anything, it is due to the fact that until after the World Wars, the United States was rather isolationist and wanted to keep Europeans out of the Western Hemisphere all together.

                The episode with the “freedom fries” and media articles critical of France mostly came down to the fact that Americans assumed their friends the French would help them fight in Iraq. When France decided not to help, many Americans felt betrayed. This was amplified by the fact that most Americans at the time connected the war in Iraq with the attacks on (9/11). Even so, the anger was never really directed at the French as a people as much as it was against the French government. A similar backlash against the British took place more recently when the British declined to support the U.S. against Syria. (It wasn’t as pronounced since no invasion ever materialized, but it was definitely there)
                Many nations didn't follow US in Iraq.
                No such thing as a good tax - Churchill

                To make mistakes is human. To blame someone else for your mistake, is strategic.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by bigross86 View Post
                  Slightly off topic, if you want to understand what the English (and by extension, Americans and Aussies) have against the French, I recommend reading "1000 Years of Annoying the French".
                  I'm not sure you could say that aussies have a thing against the french.

                  its more of a frustration issue and that can be cultural more than anything

                  eg I deal with french owned military companies on a sometimes daily basis, I've been contracted to work with a french mil-industry company, and when I had my own consultancy business, acted as an agent for some french gear.

                  IME I can find them absolutely exasperating, pig headed, obnoxious and sometimes just downright irritating.

                  they're all character traits that could also be applied to me on any given day :)

                  funnily enough, most people I know who slag off at the french (insert any nationality here) have had minimal engagement with them and are slingshotting commentary off what they've seen read or heard through their mothers brothers sister-in-laws ex wifes dog walker who was treated by a jewish doctor riding a motorbike riding around a mosque etc..... :)
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                  • #10
                    You folks are reading WAY to much into this. Remember racist = brain dead. I doubt the people doing the abusing even knew what language was being sung. They just knew these people were 'foreign'. Perhaps 'xenophobic' is a better description, but less pithy. They could have been from anywhere. Just an excuse to bully someone.

                    ...and yes, the French are frustrating, but they make great cheese & wine.:)
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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Doktor View Post
                      Many nations didn't follow US in Iraq.
                      I think there was more of a reaction against the French in that instance because the majority of Americans assumed the French would join in, and many Americans thought the French owed America after the events of WWII.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Bigfella View Post
                        You folks are reading WAY to much into this. Remember racist = brain dead. I doubt the people doing the abusing even knew what language was being sung. They just knew these people were 'foreign'. Perhaps 'xenophobic' is a better description, but less pithy. They could have been from anywhere. Just an excuse to bully someone.

                        ...and yes, the French are frustrating, but they make great cheese & wine.:)
                        absolutely, morons are morons. lets hope this lot don't breed
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                        • #13
                          Graham was annoyed at having to catch a bus between Mordialloc and Caulfield railway stations when he abused the woman, mainly while he spoke to a friend on his mobile phone, the court heard.

                          Defence counsel Manny Nicolosi agreed the language Graham used was disgusting, and said his client had been sacked from his job as a builder's labourer and evicted from his rental property in the aftermath.

                          He said Graham had suffered immense embarrassment from his actions that day.

                          "Andy Warhol said everyone once had their 15 minutes of fame, but this man has had his 15 months of infamy," Mr Nicolosi said.

                          Graham pleaded guilty to making a threat to inflict serious injury and behaving in an offensive manner in public. Two other charges were struck out.
                          Gosh, the poor wee victim. The thing about being drunk however: I have never done or said anything whilst drunk that I haven't thought about doing or saying whilst sober. The racism, meh, except in so much as it was part of an attack against the women. Threatening to cut her breasts of with a filleting knife, well, he's thought about such things sober....
                          In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by gf0012-aust View Post
                            absolutely, morons are morons. lets hope this lot don't breed
                            Too late. The moron couple were pushing a stroller. Sounds like the other bloke will be off the market for a while, however.
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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by gf0012-aust View Post
                              they're all character traits that could also be applied to me on any given day :)
                              Ditto.
                              In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

                              Leibniz

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