No hate for the man who killed my father: Newcastle Mayor Habib Rahman
He and his family visited the murder site for the first time in 44 years
Bangladesh-born Mayor of Newcastle Habib Rahman, who had lost his father in an act of racial violence 44 years ago, said he has no hate for the man who killed his father.
Rahman and his family visited the site for the first time this week where he made the remarks.
Habib Rahman's father Azizur was stabbed at a restaurant in Wallsend 10 days after arriving from Bangladesh via London in 1977, reports BBC.
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The new mayor said they have forgiven killer Norman Patterson, who was jailed for eight years.
A murder trial at the time heard Patterson had been unhappy at the size of his meal so returned to the restaurant owned by Azizur's brother armed with a knife.
He stabbed Azizur to death and was jailed for manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.
Habib Rahman, who was three when Azizur was killed, told the BBC North East & Cumbria Impact Team he was "outraged" by the hatred shown towards his father in a "cold and calculated" attack of "brutal racism".
But speaking outside the restaurant more than four decades later, the Newcastle Mayor said, "We've got no hate for the person that did that. He has served his punishment, if I may add perhaps not the punishment he should have deserved but that was back in '77."
He further said that institutional racism was at the forefront of it back then. "But nonetheless the law of the land spoke, he has served his sentence. We've got no animosity or ill-feeling or hate for him or his family," he added.
The first BAME Mayor of Newcastle noted that although he had suffered racist abuse when he was growing up in the city, now, returning to the spot of his father's killing, feels safe.
