VANCOUVER – A young Canadian Muslimah, assaulted on a train last year, has forgiven her attacker, saying she began “changing the world.”
“Because of you, I grew, I forgave and I began changing the world one person at a time,” 18-year-old Noor Fadel told her attacker in court, The BBC reported.
When Fadel, 18, boarded the train at Waterfront Station on Monday, December 6th, a man began to verbally assault her, yelling and screaming a litany of profanities. He allegedly said he would “kill all Muslims.”
The man, later identified as 47-year-old Pierre Belzan, even hit Fadel, attempted to remove her hijab, and tried to sexually assault her.
Fadel’s story made headlines when good Samaritan Jake Taylor stepped in and asked the man to leave the train.
Fadel said at the time that Taylor was “once a stranger now a dear friend who stood up for me no matter for my appearance”.
On Wednesday, Fadel was in court to face her attacker and read her victim-impact statement.
“You missed out on meeting someone with a big heart like me,” she read.
“But it’s up to you now; where you take your life from this very moment. In the end, because of you, I felt so much pain and betrayal and hardships in my life.
“Because of you, I grew, I forgave and I began changing the world one person at a time. Because of you, the world knows my story, my resilience. Because of you, the world knows I am going to be OK.”