In a statement made to the Federal District and Territories Justice Court (TJDFT), the Pizza Hut waitress, called a “monkey” by Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) lawyer, explained how her work routine became a nightmare after being the target of racist insults. Frédéric Wassef (featured photo) was found guilty of racist insults against the employee this Wednesday (12/17). According to the court decision, he will have to serve 1 year and 9 months in prison, under open law.
According to the victim’s report, transcribed in the sentence, the first episode of injury occurred in October 2020.
At the time, Wassef, a frequent customer at the Pizza Hut unit at Pier 21, Lago Sul, reportedly refused to be served by her upon first contact: “I don’t want to be served by you. You’re black, you look dirty and you won’t know how to take my order.”
The employee explains that the lawyer grabbed her arm and threw the pizza box on the ground, telling her to pick it up.
The following month, the woman was the target of further insults from Wassef. This time it happened after he complained that the pizza wasn’t good. The lawyer reportedly said: “You are a monkey! You eat everything they give you!”
In turn, the attendant responded that the lawyer was no better than anyone else and that there was no need to go through that.
Dissatisfied, Wassef responds that “where he comes from, servants don’t speak like that to high-ranking people.”
In her statement, the employee also said that “she felt humiliated and degraded, that it had a huge impact on her life, because she was very afraid of returning to work and of the accused returning there.”
Witnesses heard during the process, including the manager of the pizzeria and his colleagues, confirmed that the attendant was visibly shaken, frightened and began to avoid any proximity with the lawyer, even asking not to serve him anymore.
She also said she was off work and was afraid she would be at work and the same thing would happen again.
After the episode, the victim was transferred to another unit of the pizzeria, where she worked until leaving the company.
Conviction
The 3rd Criminal Court of Brasilia sentenced lawyer Frederick Wassef to 1 year and 9 months in open prison for racist insults.
In the decision, Judge Omar Dantas Lima found that the evidence confirmed that the accused disqualified the victim because of the color of her skin.
“The insult of the ‘monkey’, addressed to the offended person, violated his dignity, because it was full of degradation and negative feelings,” he said.
One of the central points of the sentence was the increased reprehensibility of the behavior due to Wassef’s profession. The judge noted that the guilt of the accused exceeds what is normal for this type of crime, because, as a criminal lawyer, he has a “better perception of the seriousness of the behavior assumed”.
“The circumstances exceed the normal, because the victim, a young black woman, was offended and humiliated in a work environment open to the public, in the performance of her duties. The consequences of the crime go beyond what is inherent in the type, because the emotional scars on the victim are evident, to the point of arousing fear and changes in behavior,” the lawyer emphasized.
The president of the 3rd Criminal Court added that, to characterize the crime, the officer must use expressions with the aim of denigrating, which was evident in the case.
“It is a formal crime, because it does not depend on the production of a naturalistic result for its consummation. The crime is intentional and requires the special goal of achieving the subjective honor of the victim,” concluded Lima.
In his defense, Frederick Wassef denied the offenses and said he was the victim of “criminal engineering” orchestrated by political opponents and other lawyers to harm him. He alleged that the victim had been manipulated.
However, the judge considered that the accused had not presented evidence to support the hypothesis of persecution. The judge emphasized that the prosecution’s witnesses were consistent and rich in detail, while the defense’s testimony showed inconsistencies and a “weakening” when confronted with the facts.
As a result, as he was a first-time offender, the sentence imposed on the lawyer was replaced by two measures restricting his rights, he will be able to appeal freely and was also ordered to pay R$6,000 for moral damage to the victim.
Absolution
Despite this, although he was convicted of racist insults, Wassef was acquitted of racism charges and criminal charges related to similar events that occurred the previous month, in October 2020, against the same victim.
At that point, according to the employee’s testimony, the lawyer grabbed her arm and dragged her to the counter, where he continued to humiliate her, throwing a pizza box on the floor and ordering her to pick it up.
The public prosecutor requested the lawyer’s acquittal for insufficient evidence, an agreement which was accepted by the court.
The other side
In a statement, lawyers Cleber Lopes and Murilo de Oliveira, who represent Wassef, said they received the sentence with serenity, “in which there are many successes, because they recognized Frederick’s innocence in most of the facts, and they will request total acquittal before the Court of Justice, confident that the evidence in the file demonstrates, in a very serene way, that the accusation is not tenable.”
About The Author
