Police anxious to trace Somali man who came to victim's aid

A blind woman has been robbed by a gang of youths after getting lost in West Ealing. The incident occurred in Tintern Court, Green Man Lane, West Ealing at 8.30pm on 19th January.

Police are looking for four or five people in relation to the attack and are also keen to trace a man call Mohammed who came to the victim's aid after the incident and may be able to help identify her assailants.

The woman, aged 24 from Hanwell, had taken a Taxi from her home address to visit a friend in Tintern Court, W13.

The driver escorted the victim to a block of flats in Tintern Court. He left the victim after she had indicated she was at a point where she was able to locate her friend's address.

Unfortunately, police believe the victim had been escorted unintentionally to the wrong block within Tintern Court, as she soon became lost and found herself on the first floor of one of the blocks in the estate.

She heard some young voices in close proximity offering to assist. She believes the group was made up of approximately three or four females and one male. They escorted the victim to the lift and all got in. As the lift began to travel upwards one of the group grabbed the victim by the throat and pushed her back against the wall.

Another one of the gang then went through the victim’s shopping bag and stole a brand new Nokia N70 mobile phone worth about £200 which was still in its box.

When the lift stopped the victim followed the suspects out of the lift. She has then attempted to get some assistance by knocking on front doors of the floor she had alighted the lift from. At this point a man called Mohammed arrived on the scene to help the victim. Police believe him to be a Somali but are not sure whether he was visiting the building or was a resident. The badly shaken woman explained to him what had happened and he escorted her out of the building. When they came outside the woman heard what she thought were the voices of the youths that had attacked her. Mohammed confronted them but they denied being involved in the attack. He then escorted the victim to the Uxbridge Road where he boarded an E3 bus with her and ensured that she got safely home.

The attacked woman was wearing brown boots, a blue denim ankle length skirt and a black headscarf, which covered her top half. She does use a stick to aid her mobility but did not have it with her on this occasion.

Officers have carried out some initial House to House enquiries to locate potential witnesses and / or Mohammed but to date they have yielded no positive responses.

Detective Constable Lakoon, Ealing Borough Police Safer Street Unit said, “This was a deeply traumatic ordeal for the victim and we are treating this incident very seriously. We are determined to catch these individuals and believe they may live locally. We are anxious to trace Mohammed and would appeal to anyone who may know him to contact us.”

Ealing Borough Police are appealing to anyone who may recogonise Mohammed or has any information, which could help with their investigation to contact Ealing Borough Police on telephone number 020-8721-7039a quoting Crime Reference 2502266/07 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800-555-111. All information will be dealt with in the strictest confidence.

January 25, 2007