Racist woman jailed at Leeds Crown Court for punching and spitting at bar door staff during violent city centre outburst

Zermen Mendy was locked up for four months over the incident on Westgate, Wakefield, on August 1 this year.

Leeds Crown Court heard a female door security worker feared she had been infected with Covid-19 after the 26-year-old spat at her from close range.

Richard Canning, prosecuting, said Mendy was wearing a protective mask when she approached a member of door staff outside Looby Bar and punched him in the face without warning.

The blow struck him in the nose and eye socket before Mendy ran away.

She was chased by other door staff but continued to be violent as she was being restrained.

Mr Canning said Mendy punched a woman to the side of the head.

The woman was left shocked and feared she had been infected with coronavirus.

As Mendy was being restrained she said: "White people are scum. You are all racists."

When spoken to by police she admitted the offending and said: "I hate white people. They get in my way all the time."

Mendy, of Queen Street, Wakefield, pleaded guilty to three offences of racially aggravated assault.

Glenn Parsons, mitigating, said Mendy is a Gambian national and had lived in the UK from an early age.

Mr Parsons said the offending was out of character and occurred after Mendy's mental health had deteriorated during the lockdown period.

He said: "She felt moved by the Black Lives Matter movement.

Judge Simon Batiste said he had seen little evidence of Mendy showing remorse for her actions after reading a pre-sentence report.

He said: "If she was so conscious of the impact of Covid the last thing she would have wanted to do is spit in someone's mouth."

Jailing Mendy, the judge said: "The UK is a country that is usually, and should be, based on tolerance

"Tolerance in many ways. Sexual tolerance, age tolerance and particularly racial tolerance.

"People who behave in a wholly inappropriate way because of a racial motive must understand that it cannot be accepted."

Judge Batiste added: "It has been well publicised that when someone was spat at on the underground system in London, they died."

"For reasons difficult to understand you decided to assault someone. It was a wholly unprovoked attack. You ran away shouting abuse as you ran.

"The court must take a serious view on someone who behaves in that way.

"You made it clear that the reason you did this was for an entirely racist reason.

"Racial hatred of any sort is unacceptable."