'I panicked', says camerawoman filmed tripping refugee after footage sparks outrage

A camerawoman who was sacked after being caught on film tripping refugees today said her actions were the result of "panic".

Hungarian Petra Laszlo broke her silence after footage of her tripping a man as he carried his child in his arms this week sparked outrage.

In a letter to a Hungarian newspaper, the 40-year-old said: "As I watch the footage now, it's like I'm not watching myself. I honestly regret what I have done and take responsibility for it.

"I panicked. I'm not a heartless, child-kicking racist camera-person."

In a separate video, Laszlo was seen kicking a different running child at a refugee camp near the Hungarian town of Roszke, which is close to the Serbian border.

She was sacked from her job at the nationalist-linked online television station N1TV and could even face criminal charges over the incidents after being questioned by police.

"I'm in a state of shock because of what I did and what has been done to me," she wrote today.

"I was recording with the camera when hundreds of migrants broke through the police cordon, one of them ran into me and I panicked.

"I was afraid as they were rushing toward me and then something snapped in my head. As I had my camera in my hand I couldn't see who was coming at me, my only thought was that I was going to be attacked, and that I had to defend myself."

She added: "As a mother I'm particularly sorry that fate had it that a child was running at me, and I wasn't able to sense that.

"It's not easy to make a good decision when you're in a panic.

Insisting she did not deserve the "political witch hunt" which followed the publication of the video, she added: "I'm just a woman, now unemployed mother of small children, who made a bad decision in a panic situation."