A white South African woman received jail time for launching into a racist tirade against a black police officer who attempted to help her after her car was apparently broken into in Johannesburg. Vicki Momberg reportedly cried as Magistrate Pravina Rugoonandan sentenced her to three years in jail Wednesday (March 28), with one year suspended.
The Randburg Magistrate Court found Momberg guilty on four counts of crimen injuria, or intentionally “impairing” someone’s dignity. She is said to be the first person in South Africa to get jail for verbal racist abuse.
The sentence stems from a 2016 viral video of Momberg going berserk on cops, and refusing to be helped by a black officer. Momberg repeatedly referred to the officer as “kaffir” a pre-colonial racial slur commonly used against black Africans during the Apartheid-era.
She can also be heard telling a white officer that she hates the “blacks in Johannesburg” because they are “opinionated” “arrogant” and “useless.”
In another section of the disturbing video, Momberg — who is well aware that she’s being recorded — continues referring to black Africans as the racist slur, and threatens to run them over. She also says she would shoot them if she had a gun.
“We believe that this strong sentence will deter would-be hate crime perpetrators in our society,” Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Michael Masutha said according to CNN. “We also find it defeating and disappointing that we are dealing with a case of this nature in a year where we celebrate the year of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.”
The magistrate also denied Momberg’s request to be released on bail while her lawyers prepare to appeal the sentence next week.
See video of Momberg’s racist tantrum below.