Sydney, Mar. 11 (ANI): A woman convicted of racism after calling her New Zealand neighbour a 'fat Australian' has had her conviction overturned in the UK.
Czech-born Petra Mills, 31, was found guilty of racially aggravated public disorder after she passed a racist a rant at her New Zealand-born neighbour in Macclesfield, south of Manchester, England last year.
But according to the Manchester Evening News, Mills has had her conviction quashed by Chester Crown Court.
Police witnessed Mills call her neighbour Chelsea O'Reilly a 'fat Australian bitch', during a dispute in September, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
O'Reilly, who has dual British and New Zealand citizenship, at the time said that she called her a stupid, fat Australian bitch because of her accent that created some confusion over her nationality. She knew she was from New Zealand.
She added that she was trying to be offensive and was really insulted. She said she would kill her dog.
The incident happened when O'Reilly was giving a statement to police about a domestic incident between Mills and Mills' husband.
Two police constables told the court they had heard Mills use the word 'Australian' during her drunken rant.
At Macclesfield magistrates' court, Mills agreed she had shouted but denied she was being racist.
She said that she did not use the word 'Australian', as she used to live with an Australian person who was very nice.
But chairman of the bench Brian Donohue said that 'you were in an emotional and inebriated state. The word 'Australian' was used. It was racially aggravated and the main reason it was used was in hostility'.
But Chester Crown Court overturned the public disorder charge after ruling the use of the word 'Australian' could not be considered racist.
Mills, a freelance interpreter, has reportedly moved to north Wales to escape the embarrassment caused by her conviction, the report added. (ANI)
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