Qld bus abuse pair charged in court

Two young women charged with the serious assault of a partially blind indigenous man on a Gold Coast bus have faced court.

Lana Janet Watmough, 21, and Layni Gloria Cameron, 17, faced Southport Magistrates Court on Saturday on charges of assault and public nuisance.

The NSW pair handed themselves into police after footage of the incident showing them bashing and racially vilifying Paul Buttigieg, 77, went viral.

Watmough, whose father was in the courtroom, was granted bail and will return to court on April 23.

Cameron wept as she was brought into the dock and no application for bail was made during her brief appearance.

The 17-year-old's family including her parents, waved to her as she was led back into the cells.

Cameron will also return to court on April 23, although her lawyer said she will make a final decision on whether to apply for bail after further consultation with her parents.

A video, filmed by a 13-year-old girl on the bus at Kirra on Tuesday, allegedly shows the blonde and brunette, punching, kicking and spitting at the man.

One woman can also be heard allegedly saying to the victim: "Oh bro, we're in Abo land."

After the assault, the man Paul Buttigieg, 77, can be heard telling other passengers that he couldn't see his attackers because he was partially blind.

Mr Buttigieg made a statement to police on Friday and said he wanted to press charges.

Mr Buttigieg said the abuse began after he asked the women to mind their language.

"All I said was, `Would you mind stop swearing?' and the next thing there was beating and beating," he told News Corp Australia.

"That's when they laid into me."

The pensioner, who was travelling home from the Tweed Heads Bowls Club when the women confronted him, said the incident is a blur because he's blind in his right eye and can barely see from his left.

"If I could have seen them, I would have thrown them out the door," Mr Buttigieg told the newspaper.

"They had some screws loose."

He says the inside of his mouth is "busted" and his arms are bruised.

Many Australians have expressed disgust at the attack, which follows a string of similar incidents on public transport in Australia that have been filmed and gone viral.

In June, NSW Police charged a 55-year-old woman after she was caught on camera racially vilifying an Asian schoolboy on a bus in Burwood in April.

Another video shows a pregnant woman being called a "fat slut" after she asked a Perth train passenger to move her bags so she could sit down.

In November 2012, a French woman on a Melbourne bus was told to "speak English or die" by a man who also threatened to cut her breasts off.