Hamilton woman in racist Boxing Day parking lot rant to appear in court in March
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A Hamilton woman facing several criminal charges following a racist rant in a Niagara-on-the-Lake mall parking lot on Boxing Day that was caught on video is scheduled to answer to the charges in March.
Patricia Zammit, 51, did not appear in Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines Monday for her first scheduled court date since her arrest.
Lawyer Alex Rygus spoke on the woman's behalf and requested the matter be adjourned until March so that her Hamilton defence counsel can review disclosure released by the Crown's office.
The lawyer was also instructed to obtain a video pertaining to the incident from the Crown prior to the woman's next court date.
Zammit was arrested Dec. 30 and charged with assault and uttering threats after a widely-shared video of an altercation between two women over a parking spot at a crowded parking lot appeared on social media.
The incident happened Boxing Day at the Outlet Collection at Niagara mall on Taylor Road.
An Asian woman shot the one-minute cellphone video and posted it to social media. The video went viral and garnered more than 70,000 views in less than five days, and sparked community outrage.
The video begins with a woman berating the complainant and calling her a "f---ing Chink."
The video, which has since been deleted, also appears to show the recording device being swatted at and the complainant mocked for speaking Mandarin.
The woman, sings "la-la-la-la" at the complainant and gives the camera the middle finger and sticks out her tongue.
"She started it, she goes, 'I don't know what a signal is.' You don't know what a signal is, guess what? Even in China they have signal lights," the woman says in the video.
The woman who recorded the expletive-filled tirade reported the incident to guest services. Mall security staff then contacted Niagara Regional Police and a suspect was arrested a few days later.
In January, the co-founder of the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association said the altercation illustrates the need for locally-developed protocols to enforce and track incidents of hate speech.
The association recently started looking into "making hate speech something that can be enforced with municipal bylaws."
- Hamilton woman arrested after racist rant in Niagara mall parking lot caught on video
- Video: Police investigating racist rant in Niagara mall parking spot dispute
- Enforcement, tracking of hate crime is 'not adequate,' says anti-racism association
