A failed Muslim UKIP candidate has been convicted of calling a Muslim Tesco worker a “f**king foreigner” after he rushed to help her when she was attacked in a car park.
Sam Naz, 33, racially abused fellow Muslim Mohammed Watfa two months before finishing fifth in the race to beat Zac Goldsmith as MP for Richmond Park and North Kensington.
Trolley collector Mr Watfa, 48, had noticed Naz being attacked by another shopper outside the store in Leytonstone, east London, and went over to see if she needed any help, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.
Naz, of Twickenham, south London, claimed she had been throttled by the male customer, who was never traced, and shoved into a parked car.
She then lost her temper and turned on Mr Watfa after the man sped off, calling him a “f**king b*****d”, a “f**king foreigner” and taunting, “What kind of f**king foreigner are you?”
The court heard Naz claimed Mr Watfa was the aggressor, and said he sparked the row by helping her assailant flee.
A jury of five men and seven women convicted her of racially aggravated intentional harassment after deliberating for just 90 minutes.
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Naz sighed and loudly tutted after the verdict was read out and told the judge he had been “very unfair” to her.
Fining Naz £1,500 and ordering her to pay £3,500 in costs, Judge Oscar Del Fabbro told her: “If you retain any aspirations for a political career you may want to reflect on the fact that humility will stand you in good stead.
“A person who stands in politics represents all members of society – foreigners included.”
Naz branded the potential costs order “a complete joke”.
Rekha Kodikara, prosecuting, read a victim impact statement from Mr Watfa in which he described still “doubting himself”.
“He said that he is still shocked at what she said to him,” Ms Kodikara said.
“[He said] that he only recently discovered that she worked in politics and it has made [him] feel worse because somebody in that position should know better than to say such things.”
Jurors had heard that Mr Watfa tried helping the mother-of-two after he spotted a man “with a closed fist” about to punch her.
He described pulling them apart and directing the man back towards his own car.
“Ms Naz moved again towards the car to stop him from driving off,” he continued.
“She was trying to go through but I was still standing between her and the car.”
Mr Watfa told jurors the driver briefly stepped out to argue with Naz a second time before pulling away at speed and dragging her up to ten yards as she clung on.
“When she turned around the first words she said was that I let him go and drive off,” Mr Watfa explained.
“I said I could not arrest him because I am not a policeman and I am not security.”
The Tesco worker claimed the verbal abuse quickly escalated into a foul-mouth racist tirade ending with the UKIP member worker saying to him: “What kind of f**king foreigner are you?”
He told jurors he replied: “I am a foreigner just like you”.
Jurors heard that Naz initially told police officers the allegations were part of “a Muslim IS IS conspiracy” from within Walthamstow’s Asian community – claims she now insists are “not true”.
Judge Del Fabbro said: “Ms Naz, you have been found guilty after careful deliberations by this jury having heard evidence over three-and-a-half days.
“You have been found guilty of racially aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress.
“The fact that you have been found guilty by the jury comes as no surprise – the evidence against you was overwhelming.
“You have only yourself to blame for the sorry state of affairs you find yourself in.
“People have provided glowing references about you and I have no reason to doubt that they are genuine references about the way in which you have been known to them – kind, dedicated, hardworking.
“However, your sheer arrogance coupled with your uncontrollable temper led to you berating and racially abusing a man who had quite simply done nothing more than save you from a very nasty incident.
“He was a very brave man to get involved in this way and you rewarded him by berating him in the most unhelpful and nasty way.’
He added: “Humility is a very precious virtue – you have none of that.”
Sam Naz is of Pakistani immigrant heritage.
