Following an 18-month long legal battle, Christian street preacher Hazel Lewis has been cleared by the London court after it found no evidence of her using abusive and threatening language against non-believers. The 49 year old was arrested while she was preaching outside Finsbury Park tube station in North London back in February of 2020.
According to The Telegraph, Lewis provided police officers of a recording of the afternoon she preached, which they reviewed and found no evidence of racist or homophobic language or abuse. The officers also acknowledge that her accuser had "goaded" her and that the Christian street preacher "refused to take the bait."
However, the officers charged Lewis with a different offense, causing her to go through a lengthy legal battle. After 18 months in court, the Christian street preacher was cleared by District Judge Julia Newton, who threw out the case because Lewis' words were not threatening or abusive.
"I am delighted that the judge has seen through the lies and has vindicated me," Lewis said. "They were determined to prosecute me no matter what."
Lewis added that the public and her accuser "wanted to silence me and twist what I was saying" because they accused her of saying that non-believers and gay people should be stabbed. She was then arrested by the police and charged for violating the Public Order Act for making homophobic and racist comments. Lewis immediately gave the police her mobile phone, which contained the recording of her preaching that afternoon.
"Since the turn of the century we have seen a concerning escalation in street preacher arrests despite strong legal precedents being set in defence of their freedoms," Christian Legal Centre chief executive Andrea Williams, whose organization represented Lewis, argued. "It is chilling that one false accusation to the police can see a woman preaching on her own handcuffed, arrested and prosecuted."
Now, Lewis is preparing to sue the Metropolitan Police for arresting her "without any evidence other than from members of the public" who were dead set on condemning her. According to Christian Today, the Christian street preacher said she was "not shocked" that she was arrested and charged despite the lack of evidence and added that street preachers like herself are "easy targets for the police and too many of us are unlawfully being fined, arrested and prosecuted."
In the U.K., cases of violence against Christian street preachers have risen. In July, a Muslim turned Christian preacher in London by the name of Hatun Tash was attacked while she was preaching in Speakers' Corner, a public debating spot in Hyde Park. The 39 year old sustained injuries to her face and hands when an unidentified man approached her and stabbed her with a knife, leaving her bleeding to collapse.
Tash, who believed her attacker was Muslim, then called out the London police for failing to "arrest a Muslim for fear of being called Islamophobic." She has also filed a pre-action letter seeking damages for "assault, false arrest, false imprisonment and harassment as a result of repeated failures to protect her."
(Photo and embedded video taken from Christian Concern)
