Avon and Somerset Police has issued an appeal to find a group of teenage girls who racially abused and assaulted a male in Bristol city centre last week. The incident at Chatime, a bubble tea shop, on Union Street in Bristol, saw a member of staff at the forefront of the attack.
The employee had his glasses stolen, was racially abused and assaulted, say police. They also caused damage within the shop. The incident is now being treated by officers as a potential hate crime.
Roxy Nguyen, the owner of Chatime, says that her colleague is now "traumatised" and described the young girls as "bullies". She reported the incident straight away to police.
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Describing the situation, Roxy said: "Last week around 8.10pm there was a group of six girls. They came into my shop, one of them attempted to buy a drink but was unable to pay.
"The rest of the girls were sitting at a table and were smashing plants on the table. My colleague, who is disabled and due a knee surgery next week because he's unable to walk properly, tried to stop them.
"They left the shop and were trying to make fun of a customer inside through a glass window. They came back in, threw the smashed plants at the customer and a fight started happening. My colleague went to try and stop them, then they attacked him."
She added: "They went for his face and took his glasses leaving him strongly short-sighted and unable to see anything. That girl ran away and then another girl who was filming the whole thing kicked him really hard in the chest.
"My colleague was assaulted and his glasses were stolen and now he has to be off work as he's unable to see anything. The glasses take two weeks to be done and he has no money to replace them as they cost around £300. He's really traumatised, his chest is really painful.
"These girls were bullies, they stole his glasses and ran straight away. They also kicked him really hard in the chest, came into my shop without a reason and smashed my plants. I have no idea what's wrong with them, it's really frustrated me, especially as my colleague didn't do anything wrong."
A spokesperson for Avon and Somerset Police said: “We’re appealing for witnesses after an employee at a bubble tea shop in Union Street, Bristol, was racially abused and assaulted during an incident around 8pm on Friday evening (March 25).
“The offenders also stole the man’s glasses and caused damage within the shop. We’re investigating this incident as a potential hate crime and are reviewing CCTV from the area where the incident happened.
“The first offender is described as female, white, in her late teens, with brown hair in two bunches, wearing a light grey vest top and light blue ripped shorts, black trainers and a black baseball cap with yellow writing on.
“The second is female, white, in her late teens, with shoulder-length dark hair, wearing black jeans, a black hooded top with a white cord, and she was carrying a black Nike rucksack with a lime green logo.
“We also want to identify two other females in their late teens – one described as having black straight hair, wearing a black crop top and black/white jacket, with grey ripped jeans and a bag around her waist. The other is described as having light brown hair in a ponytail and sunglasses on her head, wearing a grey sweatshirt, black jeans, and she has a white plastic JD Sports bag on her back.
“If anyone saw or heard any part of this incident, or knows who was involved, we’d urge them to contact us on 101, giving the call handler the reference number 5222071374.”
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