Drunk Tube passenger jailed after trying to push woman in front of train
A drunk builder who grabbed an innocent woman and tried to drag her in front of a Tube train has been jailed.
Arthur Hawrylewicz snatched his victim up in a 'bear hug' before flinging her towards the oncoming train.
The victim was only saved from being thrown onto the tracks thanks to her quick-thinking friends.
Cardiff builder Hawrylewicz had travelled to London with a friend for work and says he was drunk, depressed and suicidal but cannot explain why he grabbed the young woman on the busy platform on August 22 last year.
Inner London Crown Court heard that the victim, pharmacist Maria Osifeso, had travelled from her home in Stanmore to central London go to the Notting Hill Carnival
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At just after 1.15pm she was with friends on platform one of King's Cross underground station when she was approached by Hawrylewicz, Wales Online reports.
The defendant began talking to Miss Osifeso but she had trouble understanding him and asked him to go away. Hawrylewicz responded by staring at Miss Osifeso, which made her feel uncomfortable.
Moments later, as a train approached the station and passengers began moving towards the edge of the platform, the defendant approached Miss Osifeso from behind and grabbed her in a "very firm bear hug".
Hawrylewicz flung the victim towards an oncoming Tube train at King's Cross station (Pavlos Oikonomou/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)He then picked her up off her feet and "swung" her towards the tracks.
The victim's friends were shouting at Hawrylewicz and grabbed both him and Miss Osifeso.
In the struggle which ensued Miss Osifeso was able to get free and the defendant was taken to the ground where he was kicked.
The prosecutor, Sukwinder Dhada said Hawrylewicz was laying on his front on the platform and then in a "belly-flop, fish-like movement" he moved towards the edge of platform where his head was struck by four consecutive carriages and he was rendered unconscious.
British Transport Police officers were on the scene within minutes and found 42-year-old Hawrylewicz, who regained consciousness after 10 minutes, being tended to by first-aiders.
When he came to he was found to be in a "dazed "state and smelling strongly of alcohol.
He was arrested and initially taken to hospital before being interviewed the following day, where he explained he was planning to travel back to Cardiff that day from Victoria bus station.
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He admitted he had drunk three or four Polish beers, as well as a third of a litre of vodka he'd bought 'for the road'.
Hawrylewicz told officers he was in no hurry to get to Victoria and was bored, before he had a 'flash' of suicidal thoughts that lasted a few seconds.
He says he couldn't remember speaking to the victim, nor does he recall grabbing her, instead explaining he "simply wanted to get back to Cardiff".
The court heard in fact Hawrylewicz had sent a series of messages to his partner on the morning in question expressing suicidal thoughts and had recorded a video on his phone during which the father-of-two said goodbye to his partner.
Hawrylewicz told officers he was in no hurry to get to Victoria and was bored, before he had a 'flash' of suicidal thoughts that lasted a few seconds (Keith Mayhew/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)The defendant, who has worked as a builder since moving to the UK from Poland in 2015, was breath tested and a back calculation of his likely level of alcohol at the time of the incident showed it would have been just under 300mg of alcohol per litre of blood. The drink-drive limit is 80mg.
In a victim impact statement which was read to the court Miss Osifeso described the "profound and long-lasting" affects of the incident.
She said she had to take time of work and suffers from "almost overwhelming anxiety" when using the Tube and is "hyper-aware" of her surroundings. Miss Osifeso said she continues to think about "what if?" and said it was "incredibly traumatic to think about how close I had come to dying" that day.
Arthur Hawrylewicz, of Avondale Gardens, Cardiff, had previously pleaded guilty to attempted murder when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions in the UK or in Poland.
Alexia Nicol, for Hawrylewicz, said the defendant was in a "confused and desperate" state at the time of the incident and she described the combination of his emotional state, his intake of alcohol, and the busy Tube platform as "the perfect storm".
She said her client struggles to understand how the incident happened but takes responsibility for his actions and regrets what he did "every single day" for the impact it had on Miss Osifeso and on his partner and two young children.
Judge Benedict Kelleher told Hawrylewicz he had attempted to kill a young woman who was a stranger to him by throwing her in front of a moving train and it was only the fast reactions of Miss Osifeso's friends which had stopped him.
He said it was clear from the evidence in the case that the defendant had intended to kill himself in the the "shocking" incident and he noted Hawrylewicz was still not able to explain why he had tried to kill an innocent stranger.
The judge said the appropriate sentence after trial would have been one of 11 and a half years in prison.
With a discount for his guilty plea, which was entered on the first day of his trial, Hawrylewicz, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He will serve up to two-thirds of that sentence before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community
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