Cape Town - The Sea Point man involved in the alleged attack on a Palestine supporter was only charged with malicious damage to property, despite being branded a Zionist.
After being charged at the Cape Town Central SAPS station a week ago, Adam Bulkin, 50, made his first appearance in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
The Sanlam employee was the talk of the town after he allegedly verbally abused 31-year-old Rebecca Karlovic for driving with pro-Palestine posters on her car.
It is alleged that Bulkin tried to force her off the road as he allegedly scraped the side of her car before verbally abusing her.
The incident took place just before 9am on January 12 as Karlovic parked her car in De Waterkant. She took to X, formerly Twitter, where she claimed Bulkin went off at her and keyed the side of her vehicle.
“Once I parked, he appeared again, shouting specifics. I was then aware that this was because of my pro-Palestine posters.
She said: “He started off with a ‘hey, f*** you’ and proceeded with ‘Jew hater’, ‘anti-semitic p**s’, ‘racist p**s’ and more ‘f** yous’.
“He then said ‘I hope you die’ and mentioned that he hoped they ‘genocide the Palestinians’ and of course ‘fat and ugly c**t’, Karlovic said.
According to court documents, there is no mention, as claimed by Karlovic, Bulkin’s “Zionist behaviour”.
Advocate Bruce Hendricks, representing Bulkin in the matter alongside advocate Ross McKernan, said there was nothing about Palestine or Zion.
“The matter has nothing to do with the Israel/Palestine situation. People saw opportunity and jumped on it and the effect of it is that it ruined his life,” Hendricks told Independent Media.
The case was postponed until March 15 for further investigation.
Sanlam Investments previously confirmed that it had suspended Bulkin with immediate effect.
The insurance giant didn’t respond to media enquiries sent yesterday.
byron.lukas@inl.co.za