A father who hurled an elderly Turkish migrant’s zimmer frame off London a bus after subjecting him to a torrent of racist abuse has apologised for his “monstrous” outburst, The Evening Standard reports.
Kashif Samuels, 25, told the Standard: “I am disgusted with myself.”
Samuels, a trained chef who is currently jobless, handed himself in to police hours after footage of his shocking tirade on the 149 service in Tottenham was circulated online.
He yesterday pleaded guilty to a charge of committing a racially or religiously aggravated public order offence.
Samuels, from Tottenham, was with his two-year-old daughter on the bus last Wednesday. He says he “lost it” when the pensioner refused to move his zimmer frame from the pushchair area after a mother boarded with a pram.
He repeatedly told the passenger to “go back to his own country” before shouting: “I’ll put a pig’s c*** in your mouth – what’s Allah going to say about that?”
Samuels today said he was shocked by his outburst.
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He said: “That is not the person I want my daughter to see growing up as her father.
“She is going to look at that video [online] one day and I can only hope she looks at it and says ‘that is not the man I know.’
“I will only be honest with her and say I lost my temper and said disgusting things. I would never want hear that out of her mouth.
“I don’t want to be that person and I want to make a change from today.”
The father of one said he is seeking help for his underlying anger issues and wants to change for the better.
He said: “I am disgusted when I watch it back. I watch it again and again because I need to see it.
“I offer my apologies to everybody who witnesses it online, everyone on the bus and my friends and family who are having to deal with the backlash.”
Samuels said many of his Muslim friends have been left horrified by his behaviour. He has received numerous phone calls about his actions, which he branded “monstrous and disgusting”.
He added: “Before this, I I would never have thought of myself as a racist. I have been a victim of racist abuse my whole life.
“I am not trying to excuse myself. I want to improve myself and be a better person – this is how I have felt since I handed myself in.
“I can only stand up and apologise for my own actions. I want to apologise to everyone who was affected my by actions. I genuinely mean that from the bottom of my heart.”
Samuels will return to Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court for sentencing on November 5.
