Does it pay to help?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail....n-branded-racist.html

What an extraordinary case, here we have a woman who was charged and branded a racist, because all she wanted to do was to help a pregnant woman.

It is such cases as this that helps to breed racism.

[Zeuhl]

<that doesn't mean she's fair game to be assaulted or to be charged with racially aggravated assault herself>

unless she was potentially guilty of that offence ludwig

the police seemed to think there was a charge to answer

and the description of the incident in the Mail is brazenly one-sided.

[naomi24]

^^ True, but she should never have let it go that far. I agree - a complete waste of time and money.

[naomi24]

Sorry, cross-posted. ^^ That was to Ludwig.

[ummmm]

I'd be highly offended if a complete stranger insinuated that my husband treated me as a second class citizen because I was unpacking a trolley.

[craft1948]

I'd have just let her unpack the whole trolley...................

[NOX]

If she'd just offered to help then fine, but she didn't, she gave a smug, patronising telling off to another adult implying that he wasn't living up to expectations in the UK and was in some way abusing his wife. She was rude, inflammatory and deserved the hassle she got. Anyone who didn't think she was having a dig with her remarks is seriously not paying attention.

[lumination]

everything is related to racism now, its so stupid. I just get bored of it and move on. If people want to make such a big deal of something like race differences then they are very very sad indeed.

[friedgreentomato]

My husband often stands by and let me unpack the trolley as I want the shopping pack and unpacked in a certain manner.

He would have told some one to 'f*** off' too if someone had interfered in that manner!!

[craft1948]

That'll be all of the jury then nox....................

[Ellipsis]

The irony is that Tesco always ask if you want help packing your bags ...

[lcg]

she did sound a bit of an obnoxious moo for saying about being in britain and it was more egalitarian. she made assumptions that this woman was downtrodden by her husband - with no priior knowledge of their relationship or beliefs. also, the woman may have been quite happy putting one thing on the conveyer belt, and not cared how long it took. but....the response from the couple and the police was abysmal....so no, it does not pay to help. perhaps she will keep her opinions to herself in future.

[flip_flop]

The muslim lady was at the store with her husband and children, so I'm not even sure asking once was OK - certainly if I was queuing up with my kids with Mrs Flop unloading the trolley and somebody asked if she wanted help, we'd think the person asking was a bit odd.

But if we accept asking once is OK - once the offer of help was declined she should have just got on with her own business. People like Heathcote-Drury really get on my nerves: she wanted to get involved in another person's business even though it had absolutely nothing to do with her, so I'm not in the least bit surprised she was told to f*** off.

However, that said, it concerns me that the police appear to have automatically taken the word of the muslim couple - if even half of the stories we hear/read about are true, this almost seems to be the default position now.

It also concerns me that she was charged with racially aggravated assault. Why not 'just' assault? If I have understood correctly, her sub-text was that Islam does not allow the emancipation of women. In which case, this incident has nothing to do with race and everything to do with religion.

Still - she was a silly Lady to say anything in the first place.

[Zeuhl]

<<the police appear to have automatically taken the word of the muslim couple>>

only according to The Daily Mail's version of one side of the argument

who knows what really happened

[flip_flop]

Quite.

[flip_flop]

Bloody hell - Nanny AB has changed my description of Heathercote-Drury from 'Lady' to 'Lady'.

Why?

[flip_flop]

b i n t

[ludwig]

// the police seemed to think there was a charge to answer //

The jury didn't. They took fifteen minutes to acquit her.

// who knows what really happened //

We only have a biased Daily Mial article to go on, but the court would have heard both sides of the story, presented by legal professionals.
I repeat, the jury took 15 minutes to acquit her.

[Ellipsis]

The fact that Tesco always ask if you want help packing your bags puts a whole different spin on how this kicked off - why would Ms. Heathcote-Drury need to have offered any help at all? Given that she was at the checkout first, she would have only just been made the offer of packing assistance, so would know that Tesco do this even if she was not a regular shopper there.

I suppose that in this particular instance, for some reason, Tesco may not have offered the help. Even if that was the case, when was the last time you were going through a supermarket checkout, had not even paid, and yet decided to offer advice and packing assistance to someone in the next queue? It's a bizarre position to put yourself in and you have to ask who would do such a thing, and why? Here's how the conversation went, by CHD's own admission:

Scene: CHD was waiting to pay at the checkout. A man was standing with his kids at the next checkout while the wife was putting the shopping through.
CHD: Will you help her?
Man: I've got the children.
CHD: Well, I can help her.
Man: What's it to you?
CHD: This is what feminism's about - women helping women.
Man: Oh, get lost.
CHD (to wife): We live in a society in Britain where rights are equal - if you need help you can ask for it.

So here we have a husband, wife and family out shopping in Tesco (rather than some misogynist having sent his wife out with the kids and done something more interesting himself, for example), set upon by some daft tart in the next queue.

CHD then goes on to say (in interview): "I wasn't trying to be inflammatory, or condescending, or implying anything about their race or religion. I was trying to make sure the woman was OK because I don't think women generally do enough in small ways to help one another."

Yeah right ... that doesn't stack up, even given her own account of the incident - but especially if the Tesco cashier had offered packing help, as they usally do.

Following that, if she was genuinely assaulted then the police handled her case pretty poorly and, luckily for her, the top lawyer got her off. But in doing the above she definitely played a role in her own downfall, and will hopefully next time keep her opinions to herself and let Tesco do their job!

[chaptazbru]

Glad she got off. Why hasn't the woman who hit her been charged with assault ??

[Zeuhl]

Perhaps there was even less evidence for that than there was against Miss Heathcote-Drury.

Also, as ludwig points out, neither the CPS nor the court will have been relying on The Daily Mail's version of events