A man who was knocked unconscious in a seemingly random assault bumped into his attacker in the street four months later - now he fears he may encounter him again before police take action.
Kwame Twum-Barima, who works as a refrigerator and air conditioning engineer, needed ten stitches in hospital and was off work for a month after the seemingly incident in Britannia Walk near Old Street station on July 20 last year.
Police are yet to make an arrest - but Mr Twum-Barima says he bumped into his assailant exactly four months later.
Mr Twum-Barima claims the attack took place after he declined to give a lift to a man who had approached him while he was sitting in his work van at around 10.30pm.
He says the man then reached through his open passenger window and took a hi-vis jacket he had placed on the seat.
When the engineer got out of his van to ask for the jacket back, the man made as if to hand it over, before hitting him in the face, Mr Twum-Barima claims.
He told the Gazette: “He gave the jacket back because his girlfriend was shouting and screaming [telling him to return it].
“In the course of giving me the jacket, that’s when he hit me. Then that was it – I didn’t see anything else until I was in A&E.”
Mr Twum-Barima was later told that he had been hit multiple times, before being found by passers by who called 999.
The engineer claims his eyesight has been affected by the attack and that he is currently receiving physiotherapy for his lower back.
While still recovering from his injuries, Mr Twum-Barima believes he saw his attacker in Westland Place, which runs parallel to Britannia Walk, on November 20.
He now fears the man is “local” and that he could be attacked again.
He said: “It was quite odd [seeing him], but it gave me a better opportunity to see him properly, so I can now easily identify him.
“The police have not made an arrest. They started their investigations and then just before Christmas, they paused it.”
Mr Twum-Barima added that now he had seen his attacker again, but no arrests have been made, there is “unfinished closure” in his mind.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: "Following the initial investigation to identify the suspect which covered all available lines of enquiry at that time, the investigation was closed in December 2023.
"After a review of the case, and after internal circulation of the suspect’s image had failed to yield a positive identification, a decision was taken to issue a public media appeal for assistance.
"We understand and share the victim’s frustration that the person responsible has not been identified, but we remain committed to doing all we can to find and arrest the suspect."
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