Transgender model’s rant at airport over ‘ma’am’ remark
A MODEL accused Heathrow staff of transphobia and went on a two-hour rant after mis-hearing the word “ma’am” for “man”, a court heard.
Francesca Camicia, 23, a frequent flier who was travelling to Italy for a breast augmentation, shouted “You’re the terrorist,” during the meltdown in front of security staff in September.
Camicia, of Hammersmith, west London, who is female on both her British and Italian passports, told Ealing magistrates’ court: “When someone calls me ‘man’ I feel so desolated.”
Mustafa Abbas, a security officer, insisted he addressed Camicia as “ma’am” during secondary security checks at Terminal 4. “That’s when the abuse began,” he told the court.
“She said: ‘Don’t talk to me like a dog, you need to learn some education, you f---ing idiot.’
“She said it with disgust and was looking down at me and made me feel worthless, like I am nothing, as if I am a peasant. She said: ‘You earn six pounds an hour and you think you are God.’” He reported the incident to Fahad Arshad, a supervisor, who told the court: “She refused to stop and completely lost control. Just mad, I couldn’t speak to her.
“She completely lost the plot, saying that she was transgender and that I wished death on all transgenders. She was in a blind rage. She pointed at my beard and said: ‘I should be afraid of you. You are the terrorist’. She said I homosexual and made an oral sex gesture with her hand.
“I have never come across anyone that angry or unpredictable in seven years at Heathrow. I felt intimidated when she came close to my face and poked my shoulder with her fingers. She said: ‘You’re peasants. I’ll buy this f---ing airport, this f---ing plane.’”
The court heard Camicia, who has a PHD in law, also shouted: “I’ve been a woman for 20 years. To call me ‘Sir’ is a crime. I’ve got a diplomatic passport, you can’t do anything to me, I know my rights.”
She told the court: “Since I was born I felt like a woman and it has been a real struggle, it has been hell, but I’ve been so strong ... I am here today, but I shouldn’t be. I’m proud to be a woman, proud to be a transsexual woman.”
The court heard Camicia has had 15 gender reassignment surgical procedures. She claims she is insulted by staff whenever she uses Heathrow.
She was convicted of using threatening behaviour towards Mr Abbas and Mr Arshad on Sep 17 and was conditionally discharged for two years. Camicia was also ordered to pay each victim £50 compensation and £750 costs.