Neighbour assault sparked by Cronulla riots, court told
A mother and her two sons are on trial for allegedly assaulting their neighbours in the Canberra suburb of Dunlop over two years ago.
The ACT Supreme Court has heard, the violent argument was sparked by the Cronulla riots that took place three days earlier.
The Kurdish mother and her two sons moved to Australia from Iraq in 2001.
The family cannot be named because the sons were under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged fight.
The court heard, one of the boys approached a group of Anglo-Saxon neighbours who were talking on the Dunlop street just before 8:00pm on December 14, 2005.
A female victim told the court, the boy spat at her while the mother punched her twice.
The defence counsel for two of the three accused said, the fight was encouraged and motivated by the Cronulla Riots that had recently taken place.