Assault case against women's group boss dropped

Danae Thomas, Selma Taha and Divina Riggon (l-r) were due to go on trial at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court

The leader of a black and minority ethnic women's organisation has criticised what she called an "institutionally racist system" after an assault case against her was dropped.

Selma Taha, 52, the executive director of Southall Black Sisters, had been due to stand trial along with her friends Divina Riggon, 42, and Danae Thomas, 53, having been charged with assaulting a woman in Kings Cross Underground station last year.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dropped the case as the three-day trial was set to start, saying it was unlikely to lead to a conviction.

Ms Taha said she and her friends had been the victims of a violent racist attack and they had been "disbelieved and criminalised" for challenging the abuse.

The three women were accused of assault by beating following the incident at the London Underground station on 29 September last year.

Ms Riggon was also charged with harassment and Ms Thomas was accused of racially aggravated harassment, but those charges were also dropped at a hearing at Highbury Magistrates' Court.

About 40 supporters cheered and waved placards as the trio left the court building raising their arms aloft.

Selma Taha said she had been "criminalised" for challenging racist abuse

Outside the court, Ms Taha shed tears as she said: "As relieved as I am about the decision being in our favour, this has been hard-fought and I continue to feel aggrieved at the treatment my sisters and I have received.

“From being subjected to vile racist slurs and significant injuries on public transport in the presence of an off-duty police officer... to being disbelieved and criminalised by the CPS for challenging the racist abuse, the past 10 months have reaffirmed my lack of faith in the system."

She added that the episode had "served as a daily reminder of the challenges we are up against as black, minoritised and migrant victim-survivors seeking a just response from an institutionally racist system".

'Charges discontinued'

Following the alleged incident, Ms Taha told BBC London she had been racially abused, bitten and had her hair pulled out during an altercation on a Tube train.

She also claimed an off-duty police officer had been sitting nearby at the time and failed to immediately identify himself.

Barrister Rajiv Menon KC, representing Ms Taha and Ms Thomas, said the "prosecution should never have been brought".

"Danae, Selma and Divina were victims of a racist attack on the Tube and whilst this kind of prosecution was extremely common 20, 30, 40 years ago, it should not be happening any more in 2024, it is an outrage," he added.

It is understood that the complainant in the case had previously accepted a caution for racially aggravated conduct under the Public Order Act and no further action was taken.

A CPS spokesperson said: "We have a duty to keep all cases under continuous review and following information received in the past few days, we decided that there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction, and these charges were discontinued."