A woman accused of a racist attack on two international students in Australia has been granted bail over the weekend.
The attack, which was caught in a now-viral video, occurred near Elizabeth St. in Melbourne’s Central Business District on Wednesday.
Jakkarah Brigham, 21, was charged for physically assaulting one of the students, who ended up at the hospital after sustaining minor injuries.
The students, who both attend the University of Melbourne, are of Malaysian and Singaporean nationalities.
Over the weekend, the court heard that Brigham was already on bail at the time of the offense, according to 7News. It’s unclear what her original charge/s is/are.
“I’m sorry father, I love you,” she reportedly told her father.
Subscribe to
NextShark's Newsletter
A daily dose of Asian America's essential stories, in under 5 minutes.
Get our collection of Asian America's most essential stories to your inbox daily for free.
Unsure? Check out our Newsletter Archive.
Shortly after, the court granted Brigham bail on the grounds that she is “an indigenous young woman who has never had matters in adult court,” the outlet noted.
Police are still looking for the second woman involved in the attack. In the video, she is seen blocking the other student as Brigham beat, dragged and kicked her target.
Ahead of the violent brawl, the suspects allegedly yelled “coronavirus” at the victims and demanded that they go back to their own country.
After the court granted her bail, Brigham was seen snickering with guards, according to 9News.
In a Facebook post shortly after the incident, a friend of the victims — identified only as Julie — revealed that the pair called out Brigham and her companion after seeing them abuse another group.
“We were walking to Woolworths and two White women were hurling racist comments at other bystanders,” one of the victims said, according to Julie. “[They said] ‘Go back to China,’ ‘Get out of my country,’ ‘coronavirus’ and repeated the same when we made eye contact. But we were tired, so my friend said ‘Shut up, coloniser’ and I gave them the middle finger.”
The situation quickly became violent, with Brigham allegedly using an object that seemed like a PVC pipe (not seen in the video).
“They started getting really mad and were saying ‘Come back c*nt, I’m gonna kill you!’ They started chasing us and we tried to walk away, but they got really close,” the victim added. “When my friend turned around, the brown-haired attacker threw a PVC pipe at her head, which left her stunned, then [the attacker] started pulling her hair and punching her head.”
In an email to NextShark, the said victim — identified only as “S” — confirmed Julie’s post. However, she pointed out “that after further review, rather than a PVC pipe, we speculate it might have been her Bluetooth speaker, that she used as a weapon.”
Both victims have since been worried about their safety.
“We have trouble sleeping, eating. We feel anxious at the thought of going outside. We are unable to go outside without trembling,” S told NextShark. “The other day we went outside to try to overcome the trauma and anxiety, but once we heard someone yell, we started crying.
“We would like to say that we are not okay now, but we have faith that we will be.”
Feature Image Screenshots via Amy’s appetite
