A convenience store owner in Stuart in Florida, who is an Indian Catholic, is back at work after being stabbed in a recent hate crime attack.
Shinoy Maliackel was stabbed by a homeless man on April 19 at the Family Dollar Discount store he runs in Stuart after he came to the defence of a female co-worker who was being harassed.
The attack was caught on surveillance video. When the attacker was caught by deputies a few blocks away he admitted he did it because he doesn’t like Arabs.
However Maliackel is not Arab. He is from India and is a Catholic. Maliackel is glad to be back at work, and says he’s touched by all the support and well-wishes he’s received from people across US, expressing their concern and sorrow over the attack.
“I’m really happy. I was like, I was really overwhelmed by the support,” Maliackel said. He estimates 200-300 people have stopped by, sent cards or letters or messages on Facebook.
“I’m not really angry for what happened to me because that just makes my quality of life go down, if I get angry, mad, hate, those kind of things,” Maliackel said.
It took 12 stitches and 12 staples to close the wound and now Maliackel has a scar on his right arm.
