The sex attacker who posed as a Good Samaritan: Man wearing high-vis vest offered to help injured woman after she fell down Tube station stairs but led to her basement and assaulted her
- Sharif Abbas, 30, rushed to ‘help’ the 19-year-old commuter at Bond Street
- She had suffered a broke wrist and cut to her head during fall at Tube platform
- Abbas led the injured woman out of the station and into a nearby basement
- He sexually assaulted her and was found by police with hands under her clothes
- Abbas claimed he was helping the girl, but was found guilty of sexual assault
A ‘sinister’ sex attacker pretended to help an injured teenage Tube passenger before kidnapping and sexually assaulting her, a court heard.
In the guise of a Good Samaritan, Sharif Abbas, 30, rushed to ‘help’ the 19-year-old commuter, who had broken her wrist and cut to her head during a fall on a platform in Bond Street, central London.
Unemployed Abbas, who had put on a high visibility vest to give the impression he was a Tube worker, led the woman out of the station by swiping his own card at the barrier.
He then guided the woman to a nearby empty basement where he sexually assaulted her.
Police caught Abbas with his hands under the teenager’s clothes when they inspected the basement, which had been fitted with a silent alarm.
However Abbas still denied the attack and insisted he was attempting to help the woman.
He was found guilty of kidnap and sexual assault on Monday, following a trial at Southwark Crown Court.
In the guise of a Good Samaritan, Sharif Abbas (pictured), 30, rushed to ‘help’ the 19-year-old commuter, who had broken her wrist and cut to her head during a fall on a platform in Bond Street, central London
Police described the actions of Abbas, who has been remanded in custody ahead of his sentencing in February, as ‘sinister’.
The court heard how the incident took place after the woman fell on the Tube station platform on June 16, 2019, at around 6am.
The teenager, who was commuting when she fell down a set of stairs as she walked from the Central Line to the Jubilee Line, suffered a broken wrist and was bleeding badly from a head injury.
Abbas, posing as a Good Samaritan in a high vis vest, approached and offered to help her.
Abbas had told the teenager that he needed to examine her for injuries.
After leading her out of the station and telling her to wait for him, he scouted out an empty basement of a commercial property in nearby Cavendish Square, where he sexually assaulted her.
But he had unknowingly triggered a silent alarm upon entering the basement.
The police were on their way to investigate what was going on at the covered walkway, which was not visible to passers-by at street level.
Officers arrived to find Abbas standing behind the injured teenager with his hands under her clothing and the fly of his jeans undone, the Metropolitan Police said.
In his police interview Abbas, who claimed he was trying to help the woman, said it did not occur to him to press the emergency button on the platform which was close to where the victim sat – or any of at least three other buttons they walked past in the station.
He also told detectives that he could not get a signal to call for an ambulance while inside the tube station, and the woman had asked him not to call.
The Metropolitan Police said this was not true as Abbas was on the telephone during the teenager’s 45-minute ordeal and no 999 call was made.
The court heard how the incident took place after the woman fell on the platform of Bond Street Station (pictured: Library image) on June 16, 2019, at around 6am
He initially told officers he had just spoken to a man that would provide bandages and first aid.
Officers viewed the CCTV at the building which showed that no other person had come into contact with Abbas and the victim.
After the verdict, Detective Constable Nigel Pacquette, of the Metropolitan Police, condemned Abbas for his ‘deplorable’ actions in targeting ‘a seriously injured woman, particularly at a time when she required urgent medical attention’.
DC Pacquette praised the woman, who has now recovered from her injuries but lives abroad and was forced to quarantine in order to take part in the trial, for helping to ‘ensure that other women are spared the perverse attentions of this man’.
He said: ‘Abbas was travelling on the tube network carrying a ‘high vis’ tabard that would give the impression that he was a member of rail staff.
‘Given that he was unemployed, this alone was concerning, but his actions toward the victim were even more sinister.’
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