Terrifying moment thug shoves innocent postman on to Tube tracks just as train pulls into busy station
THIS is the terrifying moment a thug shoved an innocent postman on to Tube tracks just as a train pulled into a busy station.
Brwa Shorsh, 24, can be seen leaping up from a bench at Oxford Circus to send Tadeusz Potoczek flying off the platform.
The harrowing video also shows heroic passerby Oliver Matthews dragging Mr Potoczek off the Victoria line track as a train emerges.
Shorsh has now been convicted of attempted murder and is facing prison.
The 61-year-old said he feared he was about to die as he floundered inches from the live rail at 3pm on February 3.
Kurdish migrant Shorsh, who had been sleeping rough at tube stations since 2020, claimed Mr Potoczekhe had been given a dirty look and he felt “disrespected”.
He said he had not wanted to kill Mr Potoczek and did not know a train was pulling in.
Shorsh denied attempting to murder Mr Potoczek but a jury at Inner London Crown Court convicted him of the charge after deliberating for just 32 minutes.
After the verdict was announced Sam Barker, prosecuting, said Shorsh “has a large number – in a short time – of convictions for violence on members of tube staff and of the British Transport Police“.
Judge Benedict Keller told unshaven Shorsh: “The jury found you guilty of attempted murder, it is obviously a very serious offence and there will be a long prison sentence to follow.”
Shorsh was remanded in custody ahead of sentence on September 26.
Mr Potoczek was hurrying home to catch a flight and was looking at arrivals board when he was attacked in what prosecutor Sam Barker described as “the thing of nightmares”.
“We say that Mr Shorsh would have heard and probably seen the approaching train,” said Mr Barker.
“It follows that the defendant deliberately and forcefully pushed someone knowing that a train was coming.
“The prosecution case is simple – that whatever the reason or whatever the lack of a reason Mr Shorsh intended to kill Mr Potoczek. That is the only reason to push someone in front of a train.
“We say the defendant pushed Mr Potoczek in front of the train intending to kill him.”
Fortunately, Mr Potoczek managed to stay on his feet and landed away from the live rails.
The driver had put on the emergency brake and his train was just four seconds away from hitting the victim.
Another commuter who pulled Mr Potoczek to safety said Shorsh yelled: “What the f*** are you doing here?”
Following his arrest, Shorsh claimed he thought three women on a passing train had looked at him “disrespectfully”, the court heard.
“He was really angry as a result of it, and importantly he was not able to stand it any longer when he thought Mr Potoczek gave him a look,” said the prosecutor.
Asked how he felt after the stranger pushed him onto the Tube track, Mr Potoczek said he was feared he would “lose my life”.
He added: “I recognised that stopping a train is not like stopping a bike.”
Brave commuter Oliver Matthews came to his rescue and pulled him back up to the platform.
“I feel an arm under my shoulder and I feel I am safe,” said Mr Potoczek.
He added that Shorsh told passengers on the platform to “call the police“.
“He said: ‘Call the police!’, like he is not afraid of the police coming.”
Mr Matthews, who helped Mr Potoczek back onto the platform, said in his statement read to the court: “I was very shocked and I rushed over to the platform.
“I took hold of [Mr Potoczek] and pulled him back onto the platform.
“I situated myself between them to make sure that [Shorsh] didn’t try anything else.”
Train driver Bobby Walker said in his statement he thought someone was about to take their own life.
“He was leaning forward onto the track.
“The male in the red jacket fell into the track but not into the deeper track area.
“I immediately put the train into emergency.
“I was shaken very badly by this,” he continued.
“If he had been on the track a few seconds later he would have been killed. Also if I had looked away for a few seconds he would have been killed.
“I had a suicide four years ago at Oxford Circus, so I am very glad I managed to stop the train.”
Tim Brown, defending Shorsh, said he is a “homeless refugee who has no contact with the NHS, let alone mental health services”.
Shorsh, of no fixed address, denied but was convicted of attempted murder.