SLUSARCZYK:RAIL PASSENGER GUILTY OF ATTACKING STATION BOSS IN TICKET ROW

A raging rail passenger who savagely attacked a station manager in a row about ticket prices was warned he faces jail today (Thurs).

Wojciech Slusarczyk, 29, assaulted 43-year-old Mario Jenkins after telling him: ‘I’m gonna make sure your wife don’t recognise you.’

Mr Jenkins was set upon after he went to help a colleague settle a dispute with the Pole who was unhappy with the price of a ticket at the Liverpool Street Station ticket barrier.

Slusarczyk followed him to a private office, floored him and punched him repeatedly in the face, smashing his head onto the concrete floor.

The rail boss said he feared he could have been killed were it not for security guards coming to his aid after hearing his screams.

Mr Jenkins, a customer services manager for National Express East Anglia, was left black and blue and with concussion and was off work for seven weeks following the alleged attack.

Slusarczyk who was found guilty assault occasioning actual bodily harm following a trial at Blackfriars Crown Court.

Judge Jane Sullivan asked for a Probation Service report ahead of sentence on September 1, but warned: ‘All options are open.’

Mr Jenkins was working a nightshift when he was called to assist a ticket inspector in the early hours of June 11 last year.

He said he found Slusarczyk ranting about having to pay a £19.80 fare after getting off a train from Stansted.

‘He was asking for his money back,’ said Mr Jenkins.

‘I showed him a picture of a penalty fare. Then he started saying: ‘Are you f**king stupid, I’ve got no money for food.

‘I said “I can’t understand. You’ve produced a valid ticket, you can just leave the station and go.

‘The train service isn’t free.

‘He started to swear at me.

‘I told him he could complain if he wanted to but the conversation was over.

‘I walked away. He was swearing on the concourse and saying “Nothing is over”.’

Mr Jenkins said the Pole followed him as he made his way to his office and he quickened his pace to get away from him, but Slusarczyk pursued him in to a private corridor.

He told the jury: ‘National Express has cut back on a lot of staff – there’s nobody in the office apart from me.

‘Because the security level is four – a high level of terrorist threat as level five is when a bomb’s just gone off – I was forced to approach him whether I want to or not.

‘I said: “You’re on private property and I need you to leave”.’

‘He didn’t answer. He was just looking left, right, at the ceiling.

‘He shouted “No cameras”.

‘He’s run at me with all his body weight and banged me in the chest, boom, and barged past me.

‘I had two bruises the next day to prove it.

‘He’s shouting and swearing.

‘He swung three or four heavy punches into my face.

‘I felt my life was in danger.

‘I grabbed him by his clothing and pushed him to the wall shouting: “Stop, that’s enough”.

‘But it got worse.

‘A big struggle took place and I went back. He was on top of me.

‘He’s punching me as hard as he could and my head was banging on the concrete floor.

‘He’s saying: “I’m gonna make sure your wife don’t recognise you”.

‘He continued punching me.

‘Luck saved me that night.

‘The security guards heard me shouting to him.

‘They’ve come and he’s stood back and I’ve reached into my pocket for my phone and called police.

‘I didn’t know I had a big cut on the back of my head but I was bleeding on the floor.

‘I couldn’t hear what they were saying as I had concussion.

‘I was in hospital most of the night and they sewed my head up.

‘My eye was shut for about a week.

‘I never take time off work but I had seven and a half weeks off.

‘I forced myself to go back because I didn’t want to end up being a victim.’

Slusarczyk, of Bowes Road, Enfield, north London, denied assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was convicted.

PC Colm Abbott, attached to the British Transport Police, said: ‘By taking Slusarczky to trial, it shows how seriously British Transport Police views assaults on any passenger or member of rail staff.

‘We are working hard this year to reduce the number of staff assaults on the rail network and have a team specifically dedicated to investigating them.

‘Everybody has the right to go to work without fear of verbal or physical attack and we welcome the guilty verdict.’

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