Muslim convert, 35, ‘grabbed teen by throat’ in London street over ‘cuddle’ with girlfriend
A MUSLIM convert grabbed a schoolboy by the throat and called a teenage girl a "whore" after spotting them cuddling in east London, a court heard.
Michael Coe, 35, stopped driving and allegedly confronted the 16-year-olds, demanding to know if they were of Islamic faith.
When they lied and told him they were not, he grabbed the boy around the neck before throwing him to the floor.
Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay told Southwark crown court the incident "started as unpleasant bullying with religious overtones" and swiftly became an assault.
Coe was driving along Wilson Road, East Ham, when he spotted the young couple standing together.
"They were standing on the pavement doing what some 16-year-olds do some of the time, cuddling each other in the street," Polnay said.
"They had the misfortune that of all the people to drive by was this defendant.";
Believing the boy was older than 16, Coe stopped his car and said: "Let that schoolgirl go.";
Polnay said the boy objected, telling him they were both 16, and Coe told him: "How would you like it if your sister was cuddling?"
Coe allegedly asked if the couple were Muslims - which they are - but they denied it because they were "worried what this defendant would do if they said yes".
At which point the defendant reportedly said: “Why am I wasting my time with you if you are not Muslim?”
He is accused of throwing the young boy to the ground where he lost consciousness after an “unpleasant exchange of words, one of which was whore – directed at the girl”.
"The next thing he [the schoolboy] woke up on the floor and was bleeding", added the prosecutor.
Coe denied assault occasioning actual bodily harm and battery.
He admitted assaulting the 16-year-old boy on 15 April but claims it was self-defence.
Polnay called the attack “completely unjustifiable”.
"We would say it is really completely unpleasant and utterly unwarranted. This is a grown man on a child, a 16-year-old."
The trial continues.