MINNEAPOLIS  — A woman plead guilty Monday to attacking another woman in a restaurant because she was speaking Swahili.

The assault happened at a Coon Rapids Applebees restaurant in October 2015.

Forty-four-year-old Jodie Burchard-Risch got upset when she heard Asma Mohamed Jama and her relatives speaking in their native language.

The victim appeared in court for a hearing and faced the woman for the first time since the attack.

“Seeing her made me a little bit nervous. That’s normal I guess for every victim when you see the person that hit you,” said Jama.

“At least she admitted to what she did and she admitted to being biased. Although she didn’t use the word hate crime, she agreed to what she did was based on how different I am from her.”

Jama says her speaking Swahili at the Coon Rapids Applebee’s with a cousin and her children set Burchard-Risch off.

Shr allegedly took a large beer mug and hit Jama across the face with it. Applebees staff attempted to intervene. 

It took 17 stitches to close her wounds.

The attack left Jama concerned for her own safety. The 38-year-old avoided leaving her house for about seven months and avoided Anoka County, where the attack occurred, altogether until she stepped into the county courtroom to hear Burchard-Risch plead guilty.

When asked whether she had attacked Jama because of her national origin, race or religion, the defendant reportedly answered in a clear voice, “Yep.”

Under the plea deal, Burchard-Risch will face 180 days in jail and five years of probation.

If she violates probation she could spend three years in prison.

Burchard-Risch will be sentenced in December.