Abdullah Qureshi pleads not guilty to reinstated racially/religiously aggravated charges
Abdullah Qureshi has pleaded not guilty to the reinstated racially/religiously aggravated charges that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) initially dropped, before intervention by Campaign Against Antisemitism and other groups.
On 7th April, Mr Qureshi, 28, from Dewsbury in West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty at Thames Magistrates’ Court to one count of assault by beating and one count of grievous bodily harm with intent. The charges related to a series of assaults on 18th August 2021 in Stamford Hill in which five religious Jews in the North London neighbourhood were violently attacked.
In one incident at 18:41 on the day of the attacks last August, an Orthodox Jewish man was struck in the face with what appeared to be a bottle. In another at 19:10, a child was slapped on the back of the head, and in yet another at 20:30, a 64-year-old victim was struck and left unconscious on the ground, suffering facial injuries and a broken ankle. Two further incidents were also alleged.
The incidents received significant media attention at the time, and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, condemned “this appalling attack,” adding: “Let me be clear, racist abuse and hate crime, including antisemitism, have absolutely no place in our city.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism then revealed that the CPS had dropped the racially/religiously aggravated element of those charges as part of a plea deal with Mr Qureshi. After we, Shomrim, CST and other communal organisations made representations to the CPS, it agreed to reinstate the aggravated elements, but Mr Qureshi appeared in court to resist the reinstatement of the aggravated element.
Earlier this month, Stratford Magistrates’ Court agreed to reinstate the racially/religiously aggravated element to the charges against Mr Qureshi.
Today’s plea hearing in relation to the three reinstated charges took place at Thames Magistrates’ Court, where Mr Qureshi pleaded not guilty. He did not have legal representation, having previously dismissed his lawyer.
The prosecution argued today that Mr Qureshi travelled from Dewsbury to Stamford Hill “to deliberately target the Jewish community” and “commit antisemitic assaults on Jewish victims,” describing the victims as “noticeable members of the Jewish community.”
Mr Qureshi questioned the extent of the victims’ injuries.
He has been given conditional bail, with an order not to enter N16. The judge initially considered maintaining the GPS tag but Mr Qureshi argued that he had observed his bail conditions and therefore that it was unnecessary, and the tag was removed.
The trial is scheduled to take place in November at Stratford Magistrates’ Court.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “While it is regrettable that it took an intervention by us and others to get us here, we are nonetheless pleased to see this case progressing and the CPS making the argument that these were racially motivated crimes. We will do whatever it takes to ensure that the victims of these violent crimes have justice.”
