‘Racist bus stop abuse made my daughter want to leave Wales’
BBC
Shakila Meli was subjected to a barrage of racial abuse while waiting to catch a bus in Caernarfon, Gwynedd, with her children
A mother who was racially abused in the street says it made her feel unwanted in the place she had made her home.
Shakila Meli was told to “go home” and that she “didn’t belong” while at a bus stop with her children in Caernarfon, Gwynedd.
But the 31-year-old hairdresser who grew up in Kenya refused to back down and called the police.
The man shouting abuse has since been jailed for two years after admitting racial harassment.
“It was terrifying,” said Shakila, who moved to Llanllyfni near Caernarfon in north-west Wales in 2017.
The events unfolded after she had taken a bus trip from her home village to Caernarfon in August, when she waved to a female friend at the bus stop while waiting to return home.
But Michael Owen Williams began insulting her, first in Welsh, which her five-year-old daughter Pegah speaks.
“She came running to me and she told me ‘mum – he’s saying really mean and racial things to you’,” said Shakila.
“She said ‘he’s saying that you’re a dirty Muslim. You shouldn’t be here, you’re illegal’.”
The mother-of-three said the words “really hurt”, especially accusations of being in Wales illegally.
“I’ve worked so hard, so hard for five years – me and my husband to get the money for the visa – for everything I’ve sacrificed, he’s sacrificed,” she said.
“Now, I was finally a permanent resident and I felt it was a relief.
“But for him to tell me I’m illegal, not knowing the back story of how hard I struggled just to make everything legal. That really hurt me.”
Shakila said 36-year-old Williams then approached her aggressively, with her young daughter running from the scene.
“She’s screaming ‘mum we have to run – we have to run’. This is a little girl. She’s telling her mum we have to run,” Shakila added.
“And I said ‘no, I’m not going to run any more’.
“He started coming close to me in and he started telling me ‘what are you going to do, what are you gonna do? Can’t do nothing. Nothing’.”
It was then she phoned the police for help, while a passer-by also intervened.
“If it was not for one of this lady. I’m still looking for her, but she actually came and defended me. I think she saw that he was going to hurt me,” said Shakila.
“She was actually like shielding me and that was really beautiful to see. She said ‘you’re not going to do anything to this lady – you can’t do anything’.”
Shakila said police arrived on the scene and Williams was arrested.
“I saw the police just jump out of the car and just took him, you know. And and I felt so much relief. Just seeing the efforts of the police to actually take that action,” she said.
“And that meant the world to me.”
Shakila said the aftermath of the incident left her shaken, adding: “The people here are lovely. And I love them.
“They know that they’ve given me so much support. So me, in my head, I never thought I’d see this thing again in Caernarfon.
“For me I was like’ ‘oh no, I can’t take it’.”
She said she phoned her husband Jason, who is British, and told him: “I can’t stay here. I need to go back home. My daughter wants me to go home and she wants to be in Kenya.”
She said her five-year-old daughter had been traumatised by Williams’ verbal assault.
“She kept on saying ‘mum – We need to go to Kenya and this is not a home. Everyone hates us. No one likes us’,” said Shakila.
“She is having anxiety. She can’t go to Caernarfon at all.
“It’s not right to make a little girl feel like that. She didn’t do anything to that guy at all.”
North Wales Police
Michael Owen Williams was given a 25-month jail sentence
Williams, from Pwllheli, Gwynedd, pleaded guilty to a charge of racially aggravated harassment.
He also admitted breaching a sexual offences prevention order, which banned him from approaching and harassing or intimidating women.
He was jailed at Mold Crown Court for two years and one month on 22 October.
Shakila said the prison sentence had restored her faith, and praised the police for their actions.
“There’s a burden taken off me off my chest and all of a sudden I felt like now – this is home, this is home,” she said.
“If the police are protecting me this means that this is my home.”
District Inspector Ian Roberts from North Wales Police said: “This was disgusting behaviour that was targeted at a woman because of her race.
“This will not be tolerated in Gwynedd, and we will robustly deal with any incidents of hate crime.”
How common are hate crimes in Wales?
The North Wales Police area is one of two of the force areas in Wales to see a drop in offences with a racial or religious element.
In 2023-24, there were 504 incidents reported to North Wales Police, a drop of 7.7% on the previous year.
There was a 19% drop in offences reported for Dyfed-Powys, but both South Wales and Gwent force areas witnessed increases.
In South Wales, reported offences jumped by 16% for the same year, to 1,481.
In Gwent, the rise was even more marked, a 20% increase, rising to 674 reported offences across the force area.
Shakila said she wanted to speak out about her experience, and came from a mixed-race heritage, with a white Scottish grandfather, and she married a white British man.
“It doesn’t matter what colour you are. It doesn’t matter what you believe in. We just have the same feelings. We have the same blood,” she said.
“There’s so much going on in the world right now.
“We should focus on the important things right now and come together and help each other, you know. Help the next generation, they need to see love.”
If you have been affected by any issues in this report, you can find further information, advice and support at the BBC Action Line homepage.
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