An alcoholic criminal celebrated his seven-year Home Office battle to avoid deportation to his native India with a dangerous vodka-fueled brawl on a busy rush hour Victoria Underground Station platform.
Ashwani Kumar, 53, of Red House Way, Swindon twice kicked a commuter on the tube train before dragging him off when it pulled into the station.
He pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates Court to assaulting economics graduate Ademide Edgal on November 28, last year and received a six-month community order, which includes an alcohol treatment requirement and twenty-four day rehab requirement.
“This was potentially a very dangerous event, brawling and rolling around on the station platform could have resulted in a tragedy. It’s a tremendously dangerous event,” magistrate Mr. Richard Lewis told him today.
His lawyer Arlene Mansoor told the court the Home Office had been trying to deport him since 2010, but Kumar, who has a long history of alcohol-related offending, finally won the right to remain in the UK last November.
“He lost his business, his home, his family and he drinks to drown out the reality of what his life is,” she said. “He has depression and anxiety and has made multiple suicide attempts.”
Prosecutor Mr. Malachy Pakenham said: “The defendant had been drinking vodka and it was 6pm and busy at Victoria Station when police were called to reports of a fight on board a tube train.
“The victim says: ‘I was standing in the carriage and felt a kick to the back of my right foot and turned and saw a male. I thought it was just a mistake, but again felt a kick to the back of my foot.’
‘I asked: ‘Why are you kicking me?’ and the male replied: ‘Ask yourself.’
‘Other passengers told me to ignore him because he had been doing this all the way through the journey.
‘At Victoria he pushed me off balance and I pushed him back. He grabbed me by the jacket and pulled me of the train.
‘He pulled me three times and pulled me to the floor and I fell on top of him.’
“When a police officer approached Mr. Kumar said he had been drinking vodka and was panicking about missing his coach home,” added Mr. Packenham.
“He said he was drunk and had alcohol problems and if he saw the guy again he would apologise.”
Kumar, who had been visiting friends in Ilford, has been living a chaotic, semi-homeless existence for nearly twenty years, said Ms Mansoor.
“I think this is your last chance saloon,” Mr. Lewis told Kumar. “There is an opportunity to live a good life again.
“You must keep positive and work towards a better outcome. You must address your alcohol issues, it is ruining your life.
“A plea from us is to get your life back together. We don’t want to see you back here again.”
Kumar, who is paying other criminal fines from his benefits, was ordered to pay £85 compensation to the victim.
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