Trial date for man filmed beating migrant set

The trial date for the 43-year-old man accused of beating a 29-year-old asylum seeker who was holding her baby was on Wednesday set for November 11.

It is understood that the trial date was initially scheduled to begin on Wednesday but the Larnaca district court instead postponed it to November 11.

In early August, the 43-year-old plead not guilty to the ten charges against him, which include attacking a person which led to bodily harm, common assault, public insult, and possession of an offensive weapon. Four of the charges are related to racism and xenophobia.

The court further ordered that the defendant be released until the next hearing but on the same conditions as previously laid out, namely being on a stop list, a bail of €20,000, and to report once a week at the designated police station.

The 43-year-old man was arrested a day after he was filmed by an eyewitness hitting and kicking the 29-year-old asylum seeker from Congo who was on the ground holding her infant in her arms near Larnaca port on July 13.

He was also seen assaulting her brother. The eyewitness claimed the man had threatened to kill her, as he did the 29-year-old herself.

The incident was widely condemned as a racist and sexist attack amid public outrage.

Media reported that during a previous court hearing, as soon as the 29-year-old victim saw the perpetrator entering the courtroom she grabbed him by his shirt and wagging her finger near his face yelled “because I am black, and you are white”.

Officers immediately intervened and led the woman outside the court room where activists had gathered in solidarity with her.