Man Jailed in Scotland for Pulling Off Woman's Burka

Six months for racist attacker who pulled off woman's burka

A man has been jailed for more than six months after he grabbed a Muslim woman's burka and pulled it off.

Duncan Gandy grabbed the woman's burka, which covered her from head to toe, as she walked through the Kingdom Shopping Centre in Glenrothes.

Kircaldy Sheriff Court heard the victim, Sheheen Khan, was left "extremely distressed" by the attack.

Gandy, 31, of Provosts Land, Leslie, Glenrothes, previously admitted assaulting Ms Khan by pulling the burka from her face and head on May 9 this year in a racially aggravated attack. He further admitted breaching bail.

Defence lawyer Robert MacDonald claimed Gandy "bore no ill will towards anybody from any particular religious group or faith". However, he said his client accepted his actions would have been "distressing" to his victim.

Sheriff Grant McCulloch told Gandy that jail was the only possible sentence for an "offensive, frightening and demeaning" attack.

He said: "Suddenly, without warning, you pulled the burka from her face. That was clearly offensive, clearly frightening and clearly demeaning for her.

"There is no mitigation that can be put forward other than the fact you were under the influence of illegal substances. That, in my view, is an aggravation not a mitigation and I take the view that only a custodial sentence is appropriate."

He was jailed for 135 days for the racist attack and 60 days for breaching bail.

Gandy's jail term was welcomed by anti-racism campaigners.

Naeem Khalid, co-ordinator of Fairness, Race Awareness and Equality Fife, said Gandy had attacked a vulnerable woman as well as her faith.

He said: "Everyone's religion should be respected.

"People must have the freedom to practice their religion and the freedom to express that.

"The burka is a principle of her faith and, for me, to remove that is attacking her faith and belief.

"She was a vulnerable female and the attack will have other repercussions as it will affect her confidence to walk in public."

Source: The Herald (14.07.2011) (print edition only - does not appear on their website)

Allah Found in Potato in Scotland

A Scots Muslim mum has found the word "Allah" inside a potato she was peeling.
Mariam Nadeem told the Record: "It's like a special blessing has been sent to us."
Mum-of-two Mariam, 30, of Glenrothes, Fife, discovered the Arabic writing inside the spud as she peeled a batch of potatoes to make samosas.

She said: "This particular potato seemed a little bit mouldy so I cut a chunk off to see if the rest was OK.
"Then I noticed the brown writing in Arabic against the yellow of the potato.
"I couldn't believe it when I spelled out 'Allah'."
Mariam, who has sons aged five and two, showed the potato to her shopkeeper husband Nadeem Aslam.
"He agreed that the writing looked like 'Allah'," she said. "I showed it to our neighbours and they too were surprised."
Nadeem then took the potato to her local mosque.
She said: "Our imam suggested we could try to dry it and put it on show.
"But I don't want to dry it in case it turns brown so I think we will freeze it or bury it in the garden instead.
"I was very proud when I found it. I think I am very lucky.
"I have heard about messages from Allah on a leaf or an animal, but it is very rare."

Hundreds of Muslims flocked to a small terraced house in West Yorkshire in 1999 to see a tomato with a "message from Allah" inside.
Housewife Shabana Hussain, 27, was making a meal for her family when she cut the tomato in half and found "Bismillah" - or Allah - written in Arabic.
Writing on the other half of the vegetable said "la illaha illala" - or "there is no God but Allah".
Shabana said: "I was shocked."

Source

Listography - 5 things for valentines.....

One of my favourite meme's is Listography - Kate takes 5 whereby the lovely Kate comes up with a  topic and we have to take 5.  This week, with Valentines around the corner, the topic is 5 things I would like this valentines, so without further ado (waffle!) here are mine:

1) A lie-in with HAW

How lovely would this be?!  Gone are the days when we used to have a leisurely lie-in with coffee and the papers, now we are lucky to wake up in the bed without a little wriggling person in between us!  Having three kids this happens frequently.  What I find ironic is that even if the kids are at my parents, neither of us can sleep in and are awake by 7am anyway.  Crazy!

2) A new wedding ring.  I must blog about what happened to HAW and I in the Maldives.  It really is funny looking back now but we *must* replace those rings!!!

3) Flowers - I adore flowers and HAW is very good at buying them "just because".  However, he has never, ever, sent them to me via Interflora.  It must be his Scottish Blood!  I would so LOVE to open the door to a massive bouquet.

4) If we are talking about price being irrelevant, I would dearly LOVE a chanel 2.25.  *swoon*

5) A live in housekeeper - This would make my life so much easier, meaning I could spend more time with HAW.

Happy Valentines day Lovely People!