Cape Town - Video footage of a man and woman involved in an altercation has people talking on Twitter about who in fact the guilty party was.
On Tuesday, the footage of the incident which took place in Starbucks at Eastgate Mall in Johannesburg was shared on Twitter by anti-crime activist Yusuf Abramjee.
According to Abramjee, the woman was assaulted because the unknown man felt she was “too long” in the establishment.
“This woman was verbally assaulted and kicked by a man at Starbucks East Gate Mall. The attacker said she was sitting for “too long” at the outlet.[sic],” his caption read.
The time stamp on the video shows the altercation took place on Monday before midday.
This woman was verbally assaulted and kicked by a man at Starbucks East Gate Mall. The attacker said she was sitting for “too long” at the outlet. #CrimeWatch pic.twitter.com/64Pi7TxwBe
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) March 14, 2023
In the footage, which is 19 seconds long, the woman can be seen coming up to the counter where the man is already standing.
The pair can clearly be seen going at each other.
The man and woman can be seen waving hands and pointing at each other.
As the argument heats up, other patrons at the Starbucks seem rather nonchalant.
At one point the man points towards the woman’s face and she can be seen slapping his hand away.
As he starts walking away from her she follows him and can be seen smacking him from behind.
He turns around and kicks her.
As the woman walks towards the man after the first kick, he kicks her again.
At this point, one of the Starbucks employees makes his way to the pair and tries to break it up. The man can be seen leaving. The woman heads over to a table and picks something up.
Abramjee’s video received nearly 200 000 views since it was posted.
However, tweeps called out the woman who they believed, by viewing the footage, started the argument.
“The man defended himself against a Karen. If he wanted to assault her, it would have been more gruesome than what we see. According to the footage, she attacked, and he defended. She should go to jail for (attempted) GBH (grievous bodily harm) [sic],” @maxwellmodiba said.
@TMbuzi said life was no soapie: “She laid her hands at the gent. Never ever lay your hands on anyone because they’ll retaliate. Life isn’t some soapy [sic]”.
However, @TJContinue felt there was no need for the man to become physical: “She pushed his hand away, and still no excuse to abuse from his side, stop making or looking for excuses for bad behavior [sic]”.