Kiwi Couple Denies Racial Attack on Muslim Father and Son in Brisbane
A young Kiwi couple accused of punching a 15-year-old boy and telling him and his father to “go back to your f------ Muslim country” has denied the allegations. Bronson Tamarama and Jane Rikiti said the incident wasn’t a racial attack but just a road rage.
On September 28, the couple, who live in Brisbane, have allegedly got into an argument with a father and son pair at the fresh produce markets. 24-year-old Tamarama and 25-year-old Rikiti were in a silver Ford.
“Go back to your own country ... I will call my boys,” Tamarama allegedly told the father and son. The victims were apparently later confronted by a carload of men, who yelled and sworn at them.
A punch was also allegedly thrown at the father but missed, which caused him to fall back and crash into a counter. The boy, on the other hand, received a punch in the face, according to court documents. When a witness and a store employee tried to intervene, they were also punched.
Tamarama and Rikiti were charged with two counts each of assault occasioning bodily harm. They are due to return to court in November.
According to Rikiti, however, the incident was not a racial attack, but just “a little road rage” that was overblown when the story hit the media. She denied on her Facebook page that they told the father and son to go back to their country.
She said people telling her to go back to New Zealand is unwarranted since she was born in NZ but raised in Australia.
“...we are not racists. Some of our friends happen to be Muslim,” she wrote, as quoted by the Courier Mail.
She further explained to The Courier Mail that the argument started when the man walked out in front of their car outside the Logan Central fresh produce markets. And although there were words exchanged, there was no violence involved. She also denied the police report that they called for backup from their “boys” and that the victims were assaulted.
“We’ve done nothing wrong – it was just a little road rage,” she told the paper. “There were no racial comments made on either side. We just left [the scene] and now everything’s been blown way out of proportion.”