A Bermudian shopkeeper has been accused of breaching human rights laws after hurling “a barrage of insults” at a foreign customer.

Belinda Cyrus, who runs the Bermuda School Uniforms store with her husband Carmon, is alleged to have made the remarks to Canadian Caroline Burchall after Ms Burchall visited the Hamilton shop in September, 2012.

Yesterday a Human Rights Commission tribunal saw video evidence of the encounter, in which Mrs Cyrus, who also works as an office manager for the Progressive Labour Party, was heard to tell Ms Burchall: “I am sick and tired of you people coming here and disrespecting Bermudians.

“How can you come to Bermuda with nothing and then disrespect Bermudians like we ain’t nothing?”

The tribunal heard how Ms Burchall, who is divorced from her Bermudian husband, first went to the store on September 1, 2012 with her two children, who were students at Francis Patton Primary School.

According to Ms Burchall, although there was only one other customer in the store, she had to wait more than an hour before being served, as other customers came in and were seen by Mrs Cyrus.

Outlining the complaint, tribunal chairman Richard Horseman said: “At first the complainant thought that service was just slow but after being the second customer in the shop and then having to wait for over an hour for service while multiple people arrived after her, she felt discriminated against.”

After finally being served, Ms Burchall was told that the items she wanted to buy were not available and the store’s credit card system was also not working.

She returned to the store on two further occasions that month, only to find it closed — prompting her to e-mail the school’s principal to “express her frustration” with the store, which is the only venue on the Island that sells Francis Patton uniforms.

It was on a fourth visit, on September 22, that Ms Burchall claims she was confronted by Mrs Cyrus, who accused her of sending a “nasty” e-mail to the school.

“She just kept going on at me, saying ‘you people are what is wrong with Bermuda’. It was such an awful experience, I couldn’t believe it,” Ms Burchall told the tribunal.

A friend of Ms Burchall’s filmed the confrontation on his phone and the footage was played to the commission panel yesterday.

Ms Burchall alleges that both Mr and Mrs Cyrus, who did not attend yesterday’s hearing, “discriminated against her by failing to supply goods facilities and services of the like quality in the like manner and like terms to her ... because of her race, place of origin, colour or ethnic or national origins”.

The couple are also said to have “used words which were threatening, abusive or insulting and were likely to promote or incite ill will or hostility against a section of the public distinguished by colour, race, ethnic or national origin”.

In the video footage, Mrs Cyrus is heard to tell her customer: “When you come in here we treat you like anyone else but when you sent that e-mail you really got on my nerves.

“The first time you came here your credit card declined. You come to Bermuda with nothing, and then you disrespect Bermudians.

“I’m sick and tired of you all coming here and disrespecting Bermudians like we ain’t nothing.

“I’m going to take it to my lawyer because I’m sick and tired of you people coming here disrespecting Bermudians.

“You sent a nasty e-mail. If you had a problem you could have came here and talked to us. I’ve had enough of you people!”

Ms Burchall said that she left the store “in tears from the ordeal”.

And although she had been able to buy clothes for her children, she said she was forced to later return them because of their “poor quality”.

“I felt violated and abused and very insulted,” she said.

“Having your human rights violated brings about very deep feelings of hurt and anger.

She [Mrs Cyrus] thinks that people like me — white foreigners — are what is wrong with this country.

“I have been unable to purchase school clothes for my children at the only place in Bermuda and the world which sells them.”

Adding that the experience had had an “extremely negative impact on my life”, Ms Burchall also condemned Francis Patton School and its PTA for failing to support her.

She claimed she was told that she was putting the school’s principal “in a bad position” and the school had also threatened to take out a cease-and-desist order if she raised further complaints.

“This hurt and anger has been compounded by the people who want to just carry on and pretend that it didn’t happen, even after seeing the video,” Ms Burchall said.

The tribunal is expected to make a ruling on the allegations next month.