Drunken tube pusher sees sentence increased
Mathuram Muthuraja has had his sentence increased by the Court of Appeal, after intervention by the Solicitor General, Rt Hon Michael Ellis QC MP.
Royal Courts Of Justice
A man who drunkenly pushed another man onto the tube tracks has had his sentence increased after intervention by the Solicitor General, Rt Hon Michael Ellis QC MP.
In October 2018, 23 year old Mathuram Muthuraja, was on his way out with a group to a nightclub and had consumed alcohol. Muthuraja upset various members of the group throughout the journey with his erratic behaviour, including touching members of the groups’ rears and biting their necks. His behaviour continued to escalate and became aggressive as the group alighted the train and onto the tube platform at Barons Court Underground Station in west London.
While on the tube platform, the offender pushed the victim – who was in the group but not personally known to him – onto the track with force and the victim narrowly missed the live running rail. Fortunately, the approaching train was stopped while the victim remained injured and unconscious on the tracks. As a result of the incident, the victim had bruising all over his body and pain to both his knees, ribs and right shoulder.
On 24 July 2019 Muthuraja was sentenced at Central Crown Court to 3 years’ imprisonment.
The Court of Appeal increased this to 5 years’ imprisonment, after the sentence was referred as being unduly lenient by the Solicitor General, Rt Hon Michael Ellis QC MP.
After the hearing the Solicitor General said:
‘The aggressive and deliberate actions of the offender caused the victim pain and could have ended his life. With this in mind, it is right that the Court of Appeal lengthened the offender’s sentence.’