Airbnb host faces attempted murder charge after 'throwing woman down stairs'
An Airbnb host is facing attempted murder charges after mobile phone footage surfaced of a woman being pushed down a flight of stairs – an alleged attack she claims was racially motivated.
Shocking footage surfaced on social media yesterday of South African film-maker Sibahle Steve Nkumbi flying face first down stairs following a confrontation with the landlord.
The clips shows the man yelling “out, out” as he throws the visitor’s bags and belongings down the stairs, before appearing to pushing Ms Nkumbi down the staircase.
She tumbled, and hit the floor, appearing to knock her head along the wall and ground as she fell, where she remained limp.
Ms Nkumbi, who is studying in Bern, Switzerland, told local media she was staying with friends at the Amsterdam property while in the city for a photographic exhibition.
She admitted the group was running about an hour late to check out, when a woman rang a bell, came to their door and told the women it was time to leave.
“She stated that ‘this is not acceptable, you guys need to pack and leave now’. And I was like, ‘Yes, give us a few minutes to pack’ and I apologised profusely for us being late and we were getting ready to leave".
“And that's when she came back a few minutes later with the husband and he was banging the door.”
She said the man was “very emotional” and verbally abusive.
The host became enraged even though the group was on their way out, the film-maker said.
“I was getting ready to leave.”
She said the host claimed the woman was arguing with him, however she said: “I was trying to reason with him so we could leave in peace.”
Ms Nkumbi said he cornered her against the staircase, without a railing to hold on to, as she was preparing to come down the stairs and leave the property.
She said she hoped the man would move out of the way to let her exit on her own, after he tried to grab her friend who had already made her way downstairs.
“The way he grabbed me, I knew he was going to throw me down there. I freaked out.”
She said the man shouted at the African women and referred to them as “you people”.
“’You’re not the Queen you think you are. You need to leave now. This is not Africa’,” she recalled him telling her.
“Any person of colour that has witnessed racist attacks, you know it when it happens to you.”
The guest said she didn’t remember much of what happened next because she suffered a concussion, passed out and woke up at a hospital.
She claimed to have suffered a bump on the back of her head and large bruises on her arms and eye in the alleged incident, which has heft her feeling disappointed, sad and angry.
Prosecutors were considering charging the man with attempted murder, an official from the prosecutors office told Reuters.
Airbnb David King official told MailOnline the alleged incident was “appalling and unconscionable behavior” saying it “runs counter to everything Airbnb stands for”.
'We will take the strongest actions we can against such abhorrent conduct, including banning people for life from our platform and assisting law enforcement with their investigation and potential prosecution.
“Nobody should ever be treated like this and it will not be tolerated,” he said.
