Bus passengers do nothing as woman racially abused

A THUG subjected a Ugandan woman and her toddler to a tirade of racist abuse on a number 29 bus - as a dozen other passengers looked the other way.

The 32-year-old victim has been left too afraid to use public transport after being targeted by the man who even threatened to attack her if he saw her again in the future.

Police are now probing the unprovoked incident and have appealed for witnesses - including around 12 passengers - to come forward.

The abuse began when the man boarded at Gilmerton Road and only ended when the woman got off the bus early in North Bridge.

Pc Janie Kay, who is investigating the crime, said: "The man in question was sat at the rear of the bus while she was at the front with her child and a buggy.

"He was boisterous and talking with his friend but soon after, he began shouting racial abuse and threatening the woman. He even threatened future violence, if he was to see her again he would be violent.

"She tried to ignore him but got off the bus early at North Bridge. She said she had never experienced such a thing in Edinburgh before and has lived here for five years."

The man is described as "stocky", white and in his 40s, he was wearing a grey T-shirt and jeans. He got off in Princes Street at around 10.30am on Wednesday, August 25.

Councillor Paul Edie, convener of the Edinburgh Community Safety Partnership, which launched Scotland's first Hate Crime Strategy 18 months ago, said the abuse suffered by the woman was "disgraceful".

"Obviously, racial abuse is not something we tolerate in Edinburgh. It's completely unacceptable," he said.

"If things like this happen, people have to come forward and report them. It's a deeply unpleasant thing and disgraceful for this to happen to anyone, but in front of young child is abhorrent.

"Hopefully the man in question will read this in the Evening News and feel thoroughly ashamed."

Shami Khan, chairman of Edinburgh and Lothians Racial Equality Council, a charity working to build a racism-free society, said incidents like this were not "uncommon".

"The majority of people who suffer racial abuse do not come forward because they feel it's hard to get a prosecution," he said.

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