A Christian couple have been cleared of a religiously aggravated public order offence of insulting a Muslim guest because of her faith.
On Wednesday, 9 December 2009, Benjamin and Sharon Vogelenzang were cleared of insulting a Muslim guest, Ericka Tazi, 60, after a judge heard that she had claimed Jesus was a ‘minor prophet’ and the Bible was untrue.
District Judge Richard Clancy, sitting at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court, ruled that the couple were covered by their right to freedom of expression under the European Human Rights Act after they were alleged to have compared the prophet Mohammed to a warlord and called the guest a terrorist.
The judge also suggested that Mrs Tazi’s version of events could not be relied upon and that she was not the religious person she presented herself as in the witness box.
On 20 March 2009, Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang argued with Mrs Tazi at the breakfast table in their hotel, the Bounty House Hotel in Aintree, about the history of Islam and Muslim traditions. Mrs Tazi, who converted to Islam 18 months ago when she married a Muslim man, came down to breakfast wearing a hijab, a traditional Muslim headdress which covers the hair. She had spent a month at the hotel while attending a course at Aintree Hospital.
It was alleged that during the conversation when she challenged the Vogelenzangs about their Christian beliefs, the couple suggested that Mohammad, the founder of Islam, was a warlord. Mrs Tazi also claimed that the couple, who vehemently denied the allegations and said they were simply defending their faith, described her traditional dress as a form of bondage.
After the conversation ended, Mrs Tazi complained to the police and the couple were arrested and charged under Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 and Section 31(1)(c) and (5) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 – public order offences designed to target anti-social behaviour on the streets for using ‘threatening, abusive or insulting words’ which were ‘religiously aggravated’.
(See the earlier CCFON report)
However, the judge said Mrs Tazi's claim that she was verbally attacked by the couple for up to an hour had not been borne out by other prosecution witnesses, who suggested that any discussions lasted around seven minutes.
He also said her use of colourful language during the exchanges ‘doesn't quite form the same religious view that was put to me on the stand.’
In clearing them of causing religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress, he said that religion and politics was the ‘tinderbox which set the whole thing alight and it would appear because of strongly entrenched positions that is what has happened here.’
The Vogelenzangs, who have five adopted children and fostered a Muslim boy, said that the incident had devastated the business they had spent 10 years building up. They said that their takings were down by 80 per cent at The Bounty House Hotel since they were charged.
Mrs Vogelenzang, 54, said:
‘We’ve been found innocent of any crime. It has been a very difficult nine months and we are looking forward to rebuilding our business and getting on with our lives.
‘We would like to thank all those who have supported us, our family, our friends, our church and Christians all around the world, and non-Christians. And as Christmas approaches we wish everybody peace and goodwill.’
The Crown Prosecution Service defended the decision to prosecute saying it was a ‘serious allegation’. Nicola Inskip, a senior prosecution lawyer, said:
‘In looking at the evidence in this case we had to consider whether there was any evidence that the defendants had caused harassment, alarm or distress and in so doing demonstrated to the victim hostility solely based on the fact that she was Muslim.
‘We were satisfied that there was sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction that a religiously aggravated offence should be charged.’
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