OCTOBER 31 -- A Manhattan Criminal Court judge today sentenced Mohammed Abdellahi, 25, an illegal immigrant, to two years' prison time for assaulting Station Agent Noreen Mallory, 58, on February 14 of last year at the Wall Street 4/5 subway station. In an unprovoked attack, Abdellahi punched Mallory several times, including bruising Mallory's left eye, breaking her eye socket. He will be deported after the sentence is served.
In a victim impact statement before the Court, Mallory said that Abdellahi "presented himself in this courtroom as someone who does not speak English and is in need of an interpreter. However, while sitting on the subway station platform, as witnesses held him, until police arrived, after he brutally attacked me, he said in perfect English to me, and to the large crowd that gathered, "Look at her. A Black lady, an African lady. She's stupid."
"These comments showed me that, one, he can fully speak and understand English and two, he was motivated to assault me in part based on who I am. His intention was to hurt me on the morning on February 14, 2024, and he succeeded. I believe his attack was motivated by deep-seated anger, hate, and misogyny. I believe he committed both the felony assault and the hate crime, and I think he should serve the maximum sentence of seven years for assaulting an on-duty transit worker who was just doing their job."
Station VP Robert Kelley, speaking outside the courtroom, was in full agreement. "We understand that the perpetrator has been sentenced and that he is going to be deported, but we are still not happy because we needed the seven-year maximum to be imposed. Anyone that puts their hands on an MTA worker should be punished to the fullest extent of the law."