11-year-old Osman Daramy, a Staten Island sixth-grader who faces felony hate crime charges for assaulting a Muslim classmate, appeared in Family Court yesterday in the Bronx. Previously, the Post ran a sad photo of Daramy getting marched out of school in handcuffs and ankle shackles, and today the tabloid follows up with a photo of Daramy defiantly flipping off the tabloid's photographer. We realize Daramy—who was born in a refugee camp Sierra Leone—has his problems, but we've got to give the kid credit for giving the Post the salute it deserves.
At Daramy's arraignment yesterday, Judge Helene Sacco ordered the boy held without bail until his next court appearance Tuesday, because of concerns he could commit another crime. Assistant District Attorney Teresa Wilson told the judge that Daramy is "a public safety risk," adding, "It was not one incident. It was a continued course of behavior." Daramy had allegedly been harassing his victim for some time now, and prosecutors say he was joined by a 13-year-old female accomplice two months ago when he punched and kicked the Muslim girl and tried to rip off her hijab outside Dreyfus Intermediate School.
On Wednesday, Daramy allegedly approached the girl saying, "Aren't you the Muslim girl we beat up? We'll beat you up again." He then shoved her to the ground, punched her, and again tried to rip off the hijab, prosecutors say. Though Daramy was defiant for the cameras outside court, once inside he was reduced to tears, as was his father, Frank Davis, who points out he and his wife are Muslim. "How could a Muslim have another hate crime against a Muslim?" he asked yesterday, adding that he has bought a plane ticket and intends to send Daramy back to Sierra Leone.
A depressing story all around. Daramy faces up to 18 months in a juvenile facility if convicted of assault and harassment as hate crimes, and the Post has dubbed him "Staten Island's No. 1 problem child." His school, Dreyfus Intermediate, is also known as a problem school, and yesterday local merchants staged a small rally outside, calling for a "full evaluation of the school and faculty" by the DOE to address the impact on the surrounding community. And one parent told the Staten Island Advance, "It’s hell. There is no safety in there from the teachers or the guards."
The 13-year-old Muslim girl who Daramy allegedly assaulted says she's traumatized from the months of abuse. "Now after he's arrested, I'm still afraid ... I'm just scared of something," she told WNBC yesterday. And in an interview with the Post, she describes how Daramy and his accomplice (who is still at large after getting expelled earlier this month) tormented her: "They called me a terrorist a couple of times. They pulled my hair. I'm not really sure if he was doing it because I was a Muslim, or just because he was trying to have fun. They should not hurt Muslim people. They should not hurt anyone because of their race."
