The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL and LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporters

A MOTHER of two suffered two broken legs after a vicious, broad daylight assault from a man she reportedly didn’t know after she stepped off a jitney on Baillou Hill Road, leaving bystanders stunned and prompting questions about the delay in intervening.

The assault, caught on a video that has gone viral, involved a man repeatedly punching and kicking the victim.

“I heard screaming,” said Roniqua Newbold, a witness who was driving behind the bus. “When I looked, I saw him kicking her in the face. At first, I thought it was a domestic dispute, but it quickly became obvious that he was just out of control.”

She expressed frustration at people’s inaction.

“Nobody came out of their vehicle,” she said. “People were honking their horns and just watching. Even a man who got off the bus with her stood there and watched the entire time.”

In the video, bystanders lingered nearby while the attacker unleashed a series of blows.

Ms Newbold said she considered stepping in to stop him herself.

“I’m not gonna lie, I was gonna knock him,” she said. As she contemplated approaching, another man stepped in, striking the attacker and causing him to flee toward Wulff Road and Market Street.

Newbold then checked on the woman, who was left with broken legs, a broken nose, and severe facial injuries.

“I asked her if she knew him, and she said, ‘Miss, I don’t know him from a can of paint. I don’t know that man.’”

According to Ms Newbold, one man tried to follow the suspect in his vehicle and later guided police to the area where the attacker was last seen, but he wasn’t immediately found.

The victim, who works at Margaritaville, had been heading to work and planned to stop at Commonwealth Bank beforehand.

She reportedly told Ms Newbold and police that her attacker entered the bus on Carmichael Road and “smelled like rum”.

The victim reportedly said the attacker was shouting something as he struck her repeatedly, but the violence prevented her from understanding his words.

Ms Newbold said after the assault, the victim was visibly frightened, shaken, and began to cry.

“He might’ve mistakenly taken her for somebody else,” she said.

Ms Newbold said the woman began losing consciousness as the blood poured from her leg. She said bystanders encouraged her to call her bosses and inform them of the attack.

On Facebook, a cousin of the victim lamented that some characterised the incident as a “domestic dispute” and used this to justify the lack of earlier intervention. 

Police say they are investigating.