A WOMAN who repeatedly beat a 29-year-old over the head with a vodka bottle during a robbery has been jailed.

Shukri Warsame, 24, approached the woman on the platform at New Cross Gate station on November 20, 2009, and asked her for a cigarette.

Warsame, of Mulberry Court in Langthorne Road, Leytonstone, stood in front of the victim and she was surrounded by two accomplices.

Warsame then attacked her with a large glass bottle of vodka, hitting the woman repeatedly on the back of the head as she demanded her mobile phone.

The two accomplices, Saida Mohamed, 20, of Gunnersbury, and a 15-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons, joined in the attack, punching and kicking the victim until they managed to prise away her mobile phone.

The three then stole the woman’s bag as blood poured from her head wound.

The robbers attempted to leave the station, with Warsame crossing the railway tracks while the other two ran for the stairs.

But members of the public at the station, who came to the victim’s aid, managed to restrain the three and recover the victim’s bag.

Police then arrived and arrested the robbers, finding the stolen mobile phone in Warsame’s pocket.

The victim was taken to hospital where she was given stitches in her head wound.

The robbers were later bailed after questioning, but Warsame and the 15-year-old failed to return at a required date and a warrant was issued for their arrest.

Warsame was later arrested on an unrelated matter in Plaistow, while the 15-year-old was picked up at her home address in Ilford. She will be sentenced at a later date.

Warsame pleaded guilty to robbery and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and was jailed for three and half years at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday (July 27).

Mohamed was jailed for three years after being found guilty of robbery.

Detective Sergeant John Wolstenholme, of British Transport Police’s Robbery Squad, said: “This was a vicious, despicable and cowardly attack that left a passenger who had no chance of defending herself against three others badly injured.

“We welcome the sentences handed down to Warsame and Mohamed and hope they send out a clear message about the consequences for those who think it is acceptable to target innocent people.

“I would also like to pass my thanks to victim’s fellow passengers, who acted as good Samaritans and came to her aid. Had it not been for their brave intervention this trio may not have been captured so swiftly.”

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