A strictly Orthodox man has been charged with assault after he apparently poured beer on his Turkish neighbour and called her a “terrorist” – and then hid from police in his synagogue.

Simchon Schwartz, 46, from Brooklyn, is said to have grabbed his neighbour, Selda Turan, 27, and shoved her head down on his car, pouring beer over her, and then to have hit her husband in the street.

But his lawyer has insisted the wrong man was arrested and that it had been Mustafa Turan, the victim’s husband, who attacked Mr Schwartz and called him a “dirty Jew.”

After Mr Schwartz fled the scene, the Chasidic car dealer apparently took refuge in his synagogue on East 69th Street, but his son showed police where his father was hiding. Police said they could smell alcohol on Mr Schwartz when he was arrested.

He appeared in Brooklyn Crown Court last week charged with felony assault and felony criminal mischief, both as hate crimes, resisting arrest, obstructing police, menacing and harassment. He was released without bail and returned to his home in Mill Basin.

Police said they had found no evidence that Mr Schwartz had been attacked first.