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Man held for brutal Asian hate crime

AMAN has been arrested over a brutal attack on an Asian American woman in New York City and charged with assault as a hate crime. A man seen on video kicking and stamping on the woman on Monday was identified by police as Brandon Elliot, 38. Officers said he faces charges of assault as a hate crime, attempted assault as a hate crime, assault and attempted assault, and added that he was living at a hotel that serves as a homeless shelter a few blocks from the scene of the attack in Manhattan.

Elliot was convicted of stabbing his mother to death in the Bronx in 2002 when he was 19. He was released from prison in 2019 and is on lifetime parole.

The victim was identified as Vilma Kari, a 65-year-old woman who immigrated from the Philippines, her daughter told the New York Times.

Kari was walking to church when police said a man kicked her in the stomach, knocked her to the ground, stamped on her face, shouted anti-Asian slurs and told her “you don’t belong here” before casually walking away.

She was discharged from hospital on Tuesday after being treated for serious injuries, a hospital spokesperson said. Police on Tuesday had blanketed the Manhattan neighbourhood with wanted posters and offered a £1800 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of the man seen on surveillance video attacking Kari.

They also criticised bystanders for doing nothing to stop the attack, which came amid a national spike in anti-Asian hate crimes, weeks after a mass shooting that left eight people dead, six of them women of Asian descent.