On 15 February 2020, a mother of Colombian origin was with her daughter on her way to their home in Boston, Massachusetts, when they were attacked by Stephanie Armstrong, aged 27, and Jenny Leigh Ennamorati, aged 15 years, for speaking Spanish.
Now, both women face prison, but Leigh Ennamorati has already been sentenced to 15 months of probation for the events, while this Wednesday began the trial of Armstrong, accused of assault and battery with bodily harm, two crimes considered serious.
The trial of a woman accused of attacking a Colombian mother and her teenage daughter for speaking Spanish in February 2020 began this Wednesday in Boston , Massachusetts.
The Colombian Sara Vásquez and her daughter were brutally attacked by the two women they did not know, but the attack was captured on a surveillance camera.
Vásquez said that she and her daughter were walking home and when they passed in front of the Plaza Maverick two women started yelling at them “We are in the United States” and told them to speak English or go “to their (fng) country”.
“They punched us, we they bit,” Vasquez said. “My daughter was hit on the head.”
In the video you can see the attack and the arrival of a vehicle with police officers who separated the women.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Armstrong’s defense attorney suggested that his client had been drinking the night of the assault and chased the mother and daughter because they were laughing at the defendant, not because of the language they were speaking, according to CBS Boston.
The defense claims that it was Leigh Ennamorati who screamed that night and physically assaulted the victims.
Lawyer Myraida Meléndes, who represents immigrants and is part of the organization Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR), warned that her clients “were told to return to their country and speak English.”
Meléndes criticized Ennamorati’s sentence by arguing that “the fact that the court has not imposed significant community service underscores how much the judicial system still has to do to adequately handle hate crimes at a time when racial tensions are at their highest point”.
“Many victims of hate crimes never receive justice” , he added.
The lawyer did a call for Armstrong to receive the punishment he deserves.
The judge has a hearing scheduled for this Thursday in which he could give his verdict.
with information from EFE
2020