Men jailed for groping unconscious woman on Leicester bus station bench

Two men drinking alcohol at the Haymarket Bus Station sexually assaulted a woman who was unconscious. A CCTV operator in Leicester city centre[1] spotted the men sitting on a bench outside the bus station with the woman between them, groping her breasts at about 7pm on Tuesday, April 4, a court heard. One of the men, Kamil Kolodziejczyk, who was already a convicted sexual attacker, then wandered off to the bus station toilets, on his way lunging at another woman who had to dodge out of his way.

He was arrested by Leicestershire Police[2] in the toilets. The officers approached the other man, 64-year-old Antoni Nowak, as he was sitting with his arm around the unconscious woman. He pretended the woman – who had only met the two men that day – was his wife but then later claimed she was his sister.

He pretended to be concerned for her health but he was arrested after about 20 minutes. Both men were taken to a police station and on the way Kolodziejczyk, 39, of Severn Street, Highfields[4], Leicester, launched a tirade of foul racial abuse at a police officer and telling him he “should be dead”. At Leicester Crown Court[5] on Friday, Judge Robert Ball heard there was no blood sample from the woman and it wasn’t clear why she was unconscious at the time.

Kolodziejczyk pleaded guilty to sexual assault and racially aggravated abuse, while Nowak, of St James Terrace, Evington[6], Leicester, admitted sexual assault. The court heard Kolodziejczyk had been jailed for 12 weeks in 2011 for groping another woman’s breast and had also groped another woman on another occasion. Lucia Harrington, representing Kolodziejczyk, said: “There’s little mitigation I can offer in relation to the events.

“He understands this is a very serious matter and he pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. This man has issues with how he views women and it’s happened before.” Priya Bakshi, for Nowak, said her client had suffered serious workplace injuries that led to him losing his job in November 2020 and turning to heavy drinking, leading to his marriage ending.

She said he became homeless in October 2022 and had kept away from “the wrong crowd” since getting a place in a hostel after the offence and had been sober for four months. Judge Brown told the men, via their Polish interpreter, that their behaviour was an “utter disgrace” and too serious for anything other than immediate custody. He sentenced Kolodziejczyk to two years and eight months in jail, telling the court his concern was the protection of the public.

He told him: “If you do anything like this again you will get a very long sentence indeed.” Nowak was jailed for 16 months.

He said: “I’m not prepared to suspend it – it’s too serious.”

References

1. ^ Leicester city centre (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
2. ^ Leicestershire Police (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
3. ^ Supermarket groper targeted women in Aldi and B&M branches in Syston (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
4. ^ Highfields (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
5. ^ Leicester Crown Court (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
6. ^ Evington (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)