Ticket collector pushes woman out of train

An inhabitant of Ivatsevichy Nina Makar got a fracture of the first lumbar vertebra after falling down on the platform at Damanava station. A ticket collector Valyantsin Knyahnіtskі pushed her out of the train because she had not shown him her ticket.
The pensioner was going to her parents’ village. She bought a ticket to Damanava at Ivatsetichy. The trip takes only 15 minutes but ticket collectors arrived at that moment. The woman got scared after she realized that she had lost her ticket somewhere.

While Nina Makar and the people who witnessed her buying a ticket were asking the ticket collector not to fine the woman, the train kept on going and arrived at the station she had to get off at. The pensioner headed for the exit. At the moment she was getting off somebody gave her a push in the shoulder.

Nіna Makar: “He grabbed me by the right shoulder. I was waiting for other people to get off and when I turned my head to look at him he pushed me onto the platform. I could have died of it or could have become handicapped. Thank goodness, I managed to recover my feet. But what am I to do now? I am not young and this is my spine”.

The woman kept waiting for excuses during the three weeks she spent in hospital. Nothing happened and she sent a complaint to Ivatsevichy District Office of Public Prosecutor. Investigators have started a case according to part 3 of art. 426 of the Criminal Code – “Abuse of power”.

A judge from Ivatsevichy District Office of Public Prosecutor Vasil Auruisevich said that the defendant had not pled guilty.

Vasіl Aurusevіch: “He denied everything; he said he hadn’t even touched her. But witnesses and the offended party claimed the opposite. Not long ago he finally admitted he had accidentally pushed her. He must have wanted his actions to be qualified as “unintentional physical injuries”.

Power abuse is a serious crime. It can lead to an imprisonment from 3 to 10 years. The woman was feeling pity for the accused but the judge did not take it into account during the trial.

Nіna Makar: “If he had apologized during the confrontation I could have forgiven him. He cannot return my health to me. He should have better given me some money so that I could have bought something. I cannot do anything in my country house now”.

The court returned the unrestrained ticket collector guilty. He was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment in a high security detention centre.

The former ticket collector Knyahnіtskі has sent an appeal. It will be considered by Brest Region Court on May 15. He refused to explain the situation to a reporter from ERB. He only said that the punishment was too severe.

Valyantsіn Knyahnіtskі: “You know, I will not talk to you”.

Nina Makar has already started working. But she has not recovered completely. The woman works as a barkeeper. It is very hard in her current state.

Nіna Makar: “I cannot take a bath – it hurts. I cannot sit on anything hard. It’s ok when the surface is soft. I sleep on boards”.

Nina Makar will not attend the trial in Brest – she has health problems, lacks the money and sees no sense in it.


Photo by www.tiga.by