Racists climb on to South African man’s bonnet, smash windscreen and order him to ‘go back to Poland’
‘They obviously didn’t recognise his accent,’ says colleague of school security guard who was punched and threatened
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A gang of teenagers beat up a school security guard before jumping on the bonnet of his van, smashing his windows and telling him to “go back to Poland”.
The victim, a former police officer from South Africa, needed hospital treatment after suffering a broken shoulder in the racist attack at Bishop Fox’s School in Taunton, Somerset.
The 52-year-old man said a group of four youngsters punched him “repeatedly” and one of them threatened to slit his throat with a knife.
The gang then stole his keys and hurled them into a hedge so he couldn’t drive away – before lashing out further by denting the van and smashing its windows with a block of concrete.
“They obviously didn’t recognise his South African accent and told him to go back to Poland,” said Ron Blake, a colleague of the victim at the security firm that released dashcam footage of the incident.
“They were on the public highway outside the school gates,” added Mr Blake. “They set about the security guard and repeatedly punched him. He broke his shoulder when he fell over on the kerb.
“As well as putting him in hospital they completely trashed his company van, written off, breaking every bit of glass and denting all the panels.”
The Walford Security employee was rescued by a colleague who rushed to the scene in another vehicle following the assault at around 9am on 12 April this year.
The guard was treated in hospital before having to take two months off work.
The victim had spotted four young people he suspected of carrying out a burglary at the school library after shelves were tipped over and books left scattered over the floor.
He confronted them as he left, leading to the violent attack. Avon & Somerset Police also released CCTV stills of the suspects as part of an investigation into the “racially aggravated assault” at the school.
A police spokesperson said: “We’d like to speak to those pictured in the images but we need the public’s help to identify them. Due to the language used during the assault, we are treating the incident as racially aggravated.”
Anyone with information is asked to call 101 and provide the call handler with the reference 5219080152.
You can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers 100 per cent anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via their Anonymous Online Form.
Additional reporting by SWNS