Man who spat on tragic rail worker ‘looked like a lawyer’
A PASSENGER wanted for spitting on a rail worker who later died from coronavirus has been described as a ‘smartly dressed’ professional man in his 50s.
Belly Mujinga, 47, and a female colleague were coughed at and spat on by the suspect – who claimed to have Covid-19 – while they were on duty on March 22.
Both women fell ill with the infection shortly after and while her colleague recovered Mrs Mujinga – who had an underlying respiratory condition – died on April 5.
A petition calling for justice for the mother-of-one has reached 200,000 signatures while more than £30,000 has been raised for her devastated family.
A colleague, who was present but not infected in the incident at Victoria Station, London, said the man was in his 50s and was smartly dressed. They told The Guardian: ‘The gentleman looked like a lawyer or something. He asked us why we weren’t in the ticket office.
‘He said, “You know I have the virus”. Then he spat and started coughing. We told our managers to call the police. I don’t know if
‘She was very traumatised’
they did.’ A formal investigation was only launched this week after the incident was reported to the British Transport Police.
Mrs Mujinga’s employer Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) confirmed it has now handed over CCTV of the incident which is believed to contain at least one image of the suspect.
Mrs Mujinga’s family have said she was left so troubled by the incident that she did not initially speak about the white man who spat at her.
Her cousin Agnes Ntumba, who Mrs Mujinga saw later that same day, said: ‘She did not say anything about the man other than that he spat at her. She was very traumatised and sad about it at that time so I did not want to ask her any questions in case it upset her to talk about it.’
Questions have been raised over why the mother – who leaves behind an 11-year-old daughter – was working in a public-facing role despite GTR being aware of her underlying condition. A petition on Change. org calling for her employers to be held to account has attracted more than 200,000 signatures.
A fundraising campaign for the family – including her young daughter Ingrid – has raised more than £30,000. Of the donations, Mrs Ntumba added: ‘Hopefully it can go towards making her daughter’s life a little bit easier in the future.’ GTR said it is now making masks available to colleagues and rotas had been altered to reduce staff numbers at work.