A British court has rejected the bail plea of a teenage girl caught on video punching a 80-year-old Sikh man in the face and shoving him to the ground.
Coral Millerchip, 19, was arrested on Friday and charged with assault of the man at Coventry, a city northwest of London. The British girl appeared before Coventry Magistrates Court on Monday and has been remanded to custody until November 25. According to local media reports, defence lawyer Shane Hennigan's plea that the accused be tried in the magistrates court was also turned down and it was ordered that she appear before Coventry Crown Court, which is designated for more serious offences.
Millerchip was arrested from an address outside of the West Midlands after police received reports that the Sikh man had been attacked in Coventry city centre on August 10. She was traced to an address in Gloucester and taken to a West Midlands Police station. The elderly victim was punched in the face and pushed to the ground, leaving him with a bloodied nose and black eye.
Millerchip was also seen spitting on the victim and verbally abusing him. A video of the assault, recorded by a passer-by on a mobile phone, was widely circulated on social media and created worldwide outrage. Sikh organisations in India had demanded action by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Meanwhile, Coventry police are still keen to hear from people who witnessed the incident, which appears unprovoked. They have also urged anyone who shared the video or still images of the assault to remove them from social media accounts as they could hinder the inquiry.
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