“Immigrant Mutt”: 13-Year-Old Girl Subject to Racist Tirade On Sydney Bus

Thirteen-year-old Janna was travelling home from school on a bus departing Strathfield railway station when a man launched into a racist and Islamophobic tirade, calling her an “immigrant mutt” and telling her she did not deserve to be in Australia.

Janna said the abuse began after she saw the man taking photos of another young girl wearing a hijab and warned her. The man then fired a series of insults at Janna, calling the Year 8 student an “immigrant dog”, an “immigrant mutt” and a “terrorist”.

“I was born here,” Janna could be heard telling the man in the footage of the incident. A woman wearing a hijab then intervened, identifying herself as a teacher.

“Are you here to challenge me? What are you, a lawyer?” the man asked her.

“I’m a teacher,” she replied.

The footage was recorded by another passenger and later circulated online, with the incident prompting Janna and her mother Roula to report the matter to NSW Police.

Police said the incident occurred at about 3.30pm on Thursday, 10 September, with Janna and other passengers being verbally abused by the man before he disembarked on Liverpool Road in Strathfield.

Roula said she was horrified by the lack of support for her daughter from other passengers on the bus.

The Islamophobia Register Australia’s latest national report found Muslim women and girls accounted for 95 per cent of reported Islamophobia incidents on public transport.

“Nobody intervened — I was not expecting the passengers to intervene, but the bus driver should have stopped the bus,” Roula told the ABC.

Transport For NSW Responds To Racist Attack

Transport for NSW said the bus driver was not a direct witness to the incident and was alerted by another passenger after it had occurred. The driver asked what assistance was required and ensured the incident was reported through the operator’s processes.

Transport for NSW described the man’s behaviour as “deplorable” and said everyone had the right to travel safely and feel safe on public transport.

While drivers are expected to follow safety procedures when responding to incidents, they are not expected to physically intervene if doing so could put themselves or others at risk.

NSW Police told City Hub that inquiries into the incident are continuing.