A woman has been ordered to pay $6,000 after calling a Chinese tradesman ‘Jackie Chan’ and spraying him with a hose while installing solar panels.
The New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal found on Thursday that Nina Bridge had “racially vilified” Xining Duan during the January altercation.
Duan was installing panels on a neighboring property in Sylvania, in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, when Bridge told him to put down his tools because it was almost 5pm.
The court heard Mr Duan told Ms Bridge he only needed two more minutes to put the tiles back on the roof and finish his work.
Moments later, Bridge returned with his garden hose and sprayed him, causing the tradie to lose his balance on the roof.
Duan asked him to “stop attacking him” and warned him that he would make him fall from the ceiling.
He attempted to replace several shingles and protect the property from water.
Ms Bridge then sprayed Mr Duan in the face again, momentarily blinding him as he continued to ask her to stop.
Xining Duan had been installing solar panels on a house in a seafront suburb when a local began spraying him with water and mocking his accent.
His colleague Mr Liu told the court he saw Mr Duan slip and fall on the roof, pleading with Ms Bridge to stop spraying him.
‘I don’t mind. Aren’t you Jackie Chan jumping off the roof? Mrs. Bridge asked.
After the incident, Duan told Bridge that he would call the police and sue her.
The court heard Ms Bridge said traditional words such as “I don’t understand your English” and made sounds imitating her accent.
Duan said he also saw the woman spray water with her hose on her co-worker, Mr. Liu, while he was working on an open electric meter box.
Bridge told the court she had repeatedly asked Duan to “pack her bags and go home” and was frightened by her “screams”.
He said that unfortunately he made a comment comparing Mr. Duan to the Chinese actor.
“His actions were quite theatrical at one point, shouting at me, gesticulating rapidly and I made a comment about Jackie Chan,” he told the court.
‘I deeply regret having said this. I understand that this gentleman felt deeply offended by this, for which I sincerely apologize.
A court heard the resident sprayed him with water from a garden hose, nearly causing Duan to fall from the roof.
‘It was a mistake that I deeply regret and will not repeat. I’m honestly so sorry.’
She said Mr Duan was “screaming” in another language and causing her anxiety.
The court, however, did not find her account credible and rejected the claim that Duan had “yelled and screamed” at her before the fumigation.
Duan initially took the incident to NCAT, requesting compensation for two days’ work and a public apology.
A complaint lodged with the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board (filed in court) said the incident made Duan feel “humiliated” and “mocked”.
“At the time of the attack I became panicked and afraid because I feared she was trying to kill me by making me fall from the roof,” he said in the complaint.
‘When I got home, I couldn’t fall asleep. When I did it, I had nightmares about falling off the roof. He couldn’t breathe or think properly because of his attack.’
Tribunal members Larissa Andelman and Steven Davison agreed with Duan and found the incident amounted to racial smear.
They claimed Ms Bridge acted out of frustration after a long day at work, but noted she clearly would have seen Mr Duan slip up despite her previous denial.
“She did it because she was angry and frustrated after a long and noisy day of construction at her neighbor’s house,” they found in their decision.
“We are satisfied that Ms Bridge had a clear view of Mr Duan on the roof and saw him slip and fall on the roof after she sprayed him.”
The court ordered Ms Bridge to pay Mr Duan $6,000 within 28 days in compensation for “loss and damage”.