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Moorooka bus fire: driver’s brother suspects attack was a hate crime+Videos

Australia,  Queensland, Brisbanetimes, Oct 29, 2016 – The man charged with the murder of a Brisbane bus driver was “numb” as he sat in court on Saturday, as a community continues to mourn the loss of a well-loved man.
Manmeet Sharma (who is also known Manmeet Alisher ) was driving the 125 bus along Beaudesert Road about 9am when he pulled up to a stop in Moorooka, in Brisbane’s south.
He let on three passengers, one of them 48-year-old Anthony O’Donohue.
What followed next was a tragedy that no one in Queensland will soon forget.

 

 

Members of the community mourn their colleague killed when an ‘incendiary device’ was thrown onto a bus in Moorooka

 

Police will allege an “incendiary device” was thrown at Mr. Sharma, who burnt to death while still behind the wheel of his bus as passengers scrambled to get off the bus, screaming “please open the door, please open the door”.
Taxi driver Aguek Nyok was in the area getting a haircut at the time and has been labeled a hero after he kicked down the back door and freed the passengers of the smoke-filled the bus.
Police took the 48-year-old Moorooka man into custody and late Friday night charged him with one count each of murder and arson as well as 11 counts of attempted murder.
Defense lawyer Adam Magill said he held concerns for his client’s mental health.
“He’s numb, I don’t think he’s feeling anything at this point in time,” Mr. Magill said.
Mr. Sharma’s brother Amit Alisher told the ABC he feared the attack may have been a hate crime.

 

 

 

Bus driver Manmeet Alisher dies after being set on fire by passenger in Brisbane

 

 

 

“We suspect that it may be [racially motivated],” he said. However, Queensland Police said there was no indication the attack was racially motivated.
Victim a ‘social and helpful person’
Mr. Alisher said his brother was a “very good guy” who went out of his way to welcome people to Australia.
“He was a very good guy, a very social person, and a very helpful person,” he said.
“If he learned that someone from our village was coming to Australia, he would meet them at the airport, show them around.
“We would like to see the due process, we have faith in the Australian system.”
It is understood Mr. Alisher would arrive in Brisbane on Sunday.
The wider community is struggling to come to grips with what police described as a “random attack”.

 

 

 

Bus driver dies after being set on fire

 

  

An impromptu vigil was held across the road from the incident on Friday evening where about 100 Brisbane cab drivers, Mr. Sharma’s former profession, gathered to pay tribute to a man everyone in the Punjabi community seemingly knew.
Flags were flown half-mast at council facilities on Saturday as a sign of respect.
A vigil for Mr. Alisher, an Indian immigrant, was due to take place in Moorooka on Saturday evening.
Mr. O’Donohue will remain in custody until his case returns to court on November 21.

 

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