24 May, 2017. 15:23
ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
Retiree Peter Jenkins didn’t ask for any of the attention he’s currently receiving now, but he couldn’t sit idly by and watch his community decay any longer.
The 71-year-old former prison guard, still fresh from an afternoon sherry at the Betoota Dolphins Leagues Club, decided to do the right thing and get the bus home with his wife as even he agreed he was too intoxicated to drink.
That was when he became face-to-face with Nathan Ghafoor.
Mr Ghafoor is a seventh-generation Australian, whose forefathers arrived in the Diamantina in the early 1850s to drive camel trains. Not that it meant anything to Jenkins, who recently has been pushed to the limits regarding is anti-Islamic sentiments.
“What are you looking at? You [removed]?!” said Mr Jenkins, adding a generic racial slur as an afterthought.
And with that, every smartphone on the X45 to the Daroo Street Mall was unholstered and pointed at Jenkins.
“Mate, what’s the problem?” asked Nathan, who was just as taken back as the rest of the bus.
“You heard me, you fucking [removed] cunt, yeah but what?” replied Jenkins.
Moments after completing his last word, wife Beryl attempted to cover his mouth with her hand. Seconds later, he bit the top off her middle finger.
“I’m not finished with you, you bastard!” spitting the digit out into the aisle.
Mr Jenkins was later detained by constables from the South Betoota Police Station and questioned over a string of offences ranging from grievous bodily harm and offensive language.
He told detectives that he’s been under pressure at work, despite being retired, while also explaining that a number of family problems may have also contributed to the racial tirade.
More to come.
