Victim of racial abuse wants an apology

Thursday, 9 March 2017

Warning: contains aggressive behaviour and mild nudity. Auckland man Narindervir Singh captures racist tirade on film.

The victim of a racist tirade says he'll forgive his attacker if the man apologises to the Punjabi community.

Narindervir Singh moved to New Zealand from India seven years ago and said the incident, in the Auckland suburb of Glen Innes, was the first time he'd been subjected to racial abuse.

The customer service manager was on his way to visit a client when the driver of a white Holden allegedly started tailgating him.

This man was caught on video hurling abuse at Singh.

'I was driving the speed limit but this guy was so close [that] if I'd stopped it would have been really dangerous,' Singh said.

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He pulled over to let the driver past, but the man parked a few metres in front of him and walked over to Singh in his parked car.

'He banged hard on my window. When he ran back to his car I thought he might be getting a weapon and that's when I started filming,' Singh said.

'I wanted evidence in case something happened.'

In the footage, a man wearing a white Everlast T-shirt can be heard swearing at Singh.

When Singh speaks in Punjabi, the man imitates him and tells him to 'go back to your own country'.

Singh continues to film and tells the man he's on Facebook before the man hurls racist abuse at him.

Singh said he drove away as he didn't want to get into an altercation.

As he drove past, the other man pulled his pants down, exposing his bottom.

But the ordeal didn't end there.

'When I reached my destination a woman called Sarah pulled up and said she'd reported the incident to the police but then the man turned up again,' Singh said.

'He got out of his car and started abusing Sarah who ran back to her car.'

The driver of the white Holden allegedly tried to punch Singh, but the man's partner intervened and they eventually drove away.

Singh said he wanted the man to come forward and apologise.

'We live in a multicultural country. If he publicly apologises to the Punjabi community I won't take the matter to court.'

A police spokesperson confirmed police had received a complaint and were looking into the matter.

Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy said racist attacks were 'an ugly part of our country, but one that we need to highlight as much as possible'.

She encouraged victims to film them when they occurred.

“People who think it’s OK to attack other people, and that the only New Zealanders are ones that look like them, need to grow up and get real.'

She encouraged people to stand up for New Zealanders who were 'under attack' and said New Zealand was one of the most peaceful and ethnically diverse nations in the world.

'If we want to keep it that way then some of us need to really pull our heads in.

'We are witnessing appalling, deadly race attacks overseas and Kiwis need to ask ourselves: is this what we want here? I don't think we do. This is not the New Zealand we want our kids growing up in'