A mother accused of hurling an antisemitic insult during a children’s netball game is set to fight the charge.
Jody Scarcella, 42, is expected to plead not guilty to using offensive language in a public place after her lawyer foreshadowed the move during the first mention of her case in a NSW local court on Wednesday.
“She’s maintaining her plea of (not) guilty,” her lawyer Justin Drew told reporters outside John Maddison Tower.
“The matter’s going to be defended, the court’s made orders for a brief to be served, and we’ll go from there.”
Asked how she would argue her case when others nearby had witnessed the events, he said the witnesses had not yet been identified.
Scarcella allegedly yelled an antisemitic comment at a group of people on May 9 during a girls’ Saturday morning netball competition at Heffron Park in Sydney’s east.
Police told the 42-year-old mother to move on before later issuing her with a court attendance notice.
In a video reportedly taken after the alleged incident and shared by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the organisation’s co-chief executive officer, Alex Ryvchin, confronts Scarcella and asks if she had said what had been alleged.
The 42-year-old responds with “no, why?” before Mr Ryvchin asks if she said “f*** the Jews” and “Jews should be eradicated”, citing reports from witnesses.
“Oh my god, so what are we going to call the police?” she says.
“You can call them and I’m happy to speak to them.”
The alleged incident took place after the first week of the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, which heard from Jewish Australians who have experienced discrimination.
Scarcella’s case will return to court on July 28.
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By: Kat Wong/AAP