By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-10-31 21:43:11 | Updated at 2024-11-01 00:42:34
3 hours ago
The MTA worker who suffered a fractured eye socket after being slugged by a homeless man slammed his wrist-slap two-year prison sentence Thursday, saying he should serve the maximum of seven years behind bars.
Victim Noreen Mallory — who was brutally pummeled last Valentine’s Day by Abdellahi Mohammed at the Wall Street subway station — said she doesn’t believe punishments like her attacker’s will stop violence underground.
“[The sentence] sends a message that you can be prosecuted and held and charged with a felony for these attacks. But will it be full deterrence? I doubt it,” Mallory told The Post outside Manhattan Supreme Court.
“He should serve the maximum sentence of seven years for assaulting an on-duty transit worker who was just doing her job.”
Mohammed, a homeless Turkish man, copped a sweetheart plea deal — he pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, in exchange for just two years in the slammer.
Mallory, a 58-year-old subway station agent who was flanked outside court by members of the Transportation Workers Union Local 100, recalled the harrowing attack in her victim impact statement ahead of sentencing.
She said what started out as just another “routine day” at work turned into a living nightmare.
“When the defendant hit me that final time, I was completely defenseless, unable to even try to protect myself from his blow,” she said. “His intention was to hurt me. And he did.”
Manhattan prosecutors have said Mallory approached Mohammed as he was sleeping under a bench in the station when the homeless man erupted into a rage and began attacking her.
Mallory gave the court a detailed play-by-play of how Mohammed, 26, grabbed her by the collar while punching her in the face before he eventually pushed her into the side of a service train — only to then slam her into the ground.
Mallory suffered a crushed left eye socket and a black eye, and she said that the brutal assault left her with physical, emotional and psychological distress — unable to return to work and a loss of income.
“The attack has shaken my sense of security both in society in general as well as at work,” the victim said.
The MTA worker, who is black, also claimed that Mohammed’s attack was motivated by “deep-seated anger, hate and misogyny” that should’ve resulted in a hate crime charge after he berated her when he was apprehended by two strangers. She also believes he attacked her over her race.
Meanwhile, Mohammed, who wore a tan prison jumpsuit, didn’t apologize for the attack when given the chance to speak before Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Michele Rodney.
Mohammed, a Turkish migrant, has a pending asylum claim and is in the Big Apple legally on parole, according to a spokesperson for The Legal Aid Society.
Transit union leaders have called on the MTA and the city to ramp up safety measures following a string of attackers earlier this year — only to echo the same concerns after the stabbing of train operator in Brooklyn earlier this month.
