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Woman back in court after alleged verbal attack on mosque victim's mother, sister

Author
Anna Leask, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Mon, 21 Jun 2021, 2:09PM

Woman back in court after alleged verbal attack on mosque victim's mother, sister

Author
Anna Leask, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Mon, 21 Jun 2021, 2:09PM

A woman allegedly captured on video asking the sister of a man murdered in the March 15 mosque attacks if she was "born and bred" in New Zealand has been before the court again.

But the details of her latest hearing -which she was not at - have been suppressed.

In May, Rangiora woman Glenda Millicent Duff, 68, was charged under the Summary Offences Act 1981 Section 4 (1) c (I) with using insulting words while being reckless about whether any person was alarmed or insulted by those words.

The offence carries a maximum penalty of a $1000 fine.

The charge relates to an incident on December 28.

Aya Al-Umari was shopping with her mother Janna Ezat at the Rangiora branch of Farmers when she was confronted by an older couple.

While standing at the lipstick counter, the woman is alleged to say to her husband: "Don't worry, it won't be long before they leave our country."

The footage then shows the woman asking Al-Umari if she was born and bred in New Zealand.

Duff was initially granted a registrar's remand at Christchurch District Court without having to appear before a judge.

She was scheduled to appear again today but her before Community Magistrate Sally O'Brien.

However, she was not in court in person this morning.

Her case has been adjourned until August.

The reason for that adjournment has been suppressed.

In May, a man at Duff's home refused to comment when the Herald visited - and even threatened to phone the police.

Al-Umari's brother, Hussein Al-Umari, 35, lost his life at the Al Noor Mosque on March 15 last year.

At the time of the incident, she told the Herald if it had happened before her brother died, she probably would have kept quiet.

"But hate escalates, it needs to be stopped because we have seen what happens if it is not."

All the love and support they had received has not been superseded by the hate, she said.

"It has been a bit overwhelming, we have received a lot of messages of support. It's been really great to see.

"It restores your faith in humanity."

A passerby in the store told the woman she should be ashamed of herself.

"It was awesome to see other people calling it out too."

Al-Umari said she was happy with how the situation was handled by Farmers staff.

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