Shopper's shock at racial abuse in Tesco supermarket (From Worcester News)
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Shopper's shock at racial abuse in Tesco supermarket
4:00pm Tuesday 20th November 2012 in News
By Richard Vernalls
, @rvernallsWN #worcsnews
FOOTAGE: The CCTV of a shopper who was said to have racially abused a man in a Tesco store in Worcester.
THIS is the man police want to speak to after a shopper was racially abused in a Tesco supermarket in Worcester.
The victim, who lives with his family in the Warndon Villages area of Worcester, was subjected to a verbal assault while shopping with his 12-week old daughter.
It happened in the middle of afternoon on a Sunday in the Warndon Villages store.
The victim, who has declined to be named, said he was initially shocked and then angry after a comment was made about how he looked.
The man, who is of Chinese descent but was born and grew up in Worcester, said the incident happened as he passed a man with an older woman in one of the aisles.
“As I carried on walking past he just made this racially abusive comment, and gave me this look,” he said. “I was in shock so I just carried on walking, I never said anything.
“But as I carried on round the store, I was just boiling with anger.
“It was so uncalled for – I had just been minding my own business. I decided to go and find them and have a word.”
He spotted the pair near one of the check-outs, and approached the woman, telling her the man should be ashamed of himself.
But rather than apologise, the man repeated the offensive comment.
“Then, the woman with him actually said to me, ‘Maybe he just doesn’t like you’,” said the victim.
“I had to go over and say something to them because it was totally out of order, and if I say nothing then they will never know.
“I’m not confrontational and I don’t know their circumstances, but I felt I had to shame them, and get them to explain his actions to me.”
He said he had also been racially abused once on a night out in Worcester. The victim later reported the incident, which happened between 3.30pm and 4pm on Sunday, October 21, to police.
West Mercia Police is treating it as a racially aggravated attack.
PC Matthew Harris said: “He (the victim) and I both feel that the comments made were unprovoked and offensive, and I would like to trace the man responsible.”
If you recognise the man, call PC Harris on 101 quoting reference 599/S/221012 or ring Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
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