A British woman has come forward to slam the criminal justice system after a Muslim man who threatened to rape her was given a measly fine of £50 as a penalty by the court. Gemma Mercurio, a sexual assault survivor, says Naveed Ahmad routinely hurls abuse at local women on the basis of their race.
Mercurio, who lives in the London Borough of Hackney, took to X (formerly Twitter) to highlight the injustice of the man’s punishment in a short post made earlier this week.
“He called me a white whore and [said that] he was going to f*ck me up the [ass]. This is what we have to deal with,” she posted, uploading a photo of the Notice of Compensation she received from the court.
The notice detailed that Ahmad would be required to pay her £50 (approx. $64 USD) after being found guilty of making “racially aggravated” threats under the UK’s Crime and Disorder Act.
Speaking to The Publica, Mercurio explained that she lives in the same housing block as Ahmad, and that she’d made multiple complaints about the man to the housing officer yet nothing had been done.
Mercurio said that she has lived in her housing block for over a decade, but that Ahmad had moved in within the last 8 years. She says she’d frequently complain about Ahmad’s abusive behavior towards female tenants, but no action had ever been taken to remove him from the residence.
“He should be evicted, but no. Me, as a rape victim, to have to live here… It’s hell living here. And I feel sorry for the kids, as well, who have to grow up here. We have no protection,” she said.
In June of 2023, police were called on Ahmad by another female tenant of the block – a young student who had just moved in. While seeking statements from women who lived at the block, Mercurio told them about her experience of Ahmad threatening to rape her and hurling racial epithets at her. She also provided police with a number of clips demonstrating Ahmad’s unstable behavior.
Mercurio provided The Publica the video clips of Ahmad screaming abuse from his balcony, stating that she had taken to wearing a body cam while outside of her building for her own protection. In the clips, Ahmad can be heard and seen hurling abuse from the balcony of his apartment. To one woman passing by, Ahmad screams “f*ck your f*cking grandmother up her a*s.”
Ahmad was arrested the same day he was reported, but spent only one night in prison before being allowed to return to his unit. Last week, Mercurio received a notice that the court had ordered Ahmad to pay £50 in compensation to her.
“Telling a woman that you’re going to rape her because of her color. Imagine! Imagine if a white man did that,” Mercurio said. “It’s not the money as such. It’s the principle. I want him to pay for what he’s done. And £50 is nothing.”
As previously reported by The Publica, Britain has an enormous backlog of nearly 10,000 rape cases in its court system and has even released convicted rapists from prison to deal with overcrowding.
Despite this, earlier this year, UK police put resources into investigating a “virtual” gang rape that happened in the metaverse, and wherein the alleged victim was never physically touched.
Mercurio, an actual rape victim, has struggled to cope with the ongoing rape threats from her neighbour.
“It’s brought everything back. And how vulnerable I am. The injustice of it; it eats away at you,” she said. “You don’t know whether he’s going to snap. It’s quite scary.”
