Trainee Doctor Left Paralysed by a Man Who Leapt from the Top Floor of a London Shopping Centre
Hayley Richardson, Daily Mail, October 23, 2019
A trainee doctor who was left paralysed by a man who jumped from the top floor of a shopping centre and fell on top of her claims she takes comfort in the fact she saved his life.
Grace Spence Green, 22, said she feels no bitterness towards Amsumana Sillah Trawally, 25, from East London, despite his actions leaving her with a fractured spine and wheelchair bound.
High on drugs, Trawally vaulted a third floor barrier at Westfield Stratford on October 17 last year and fell from a height of around 120ft.
Grace, a keen climber and instructor, was on her way to teach children at her twice-weekly climbing class when Trawally struck her, leaving her with ‘catastrophic injuries’.
On Friday last week he was jailed for four years after admitting causing grievous bodily harm at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
Earlier today, Grace’s solicitor Terrence Donovan said she takes comfort in the fact she saved Trawally’s life, and is ‘grateful’ she can still continue pursuing her medical career.
The court heard Grace will unable to climb again, and that it’s possible her paralysis will be permanent.
‘She finds it very difficult to talk about him, he told Evening Standard. ‘But she has an amazing view that even though she was injured she managed to save a life.
‘Even though she was paralysed she accepts the greater good and she still has no bitterness towards him.
‘She finds it very difficult to think about what motivated him to do this.’
A judge at the court found Trawally used his body as a ‘weapon’ while high on drugs and had spent four-and-a-half hours selecting a spot at the shopping centre to jump from.
Grace, who studied medicine at King’s College London, was on her way from Maidstone Hospital when the incident happened.
Judge Paul Southern watched footage of Grace talking about what happened and called her a ‘remarkable young woman’.
He praised her she spoke ‘without any bitterness about the person responsible for her injuries’ and was ‘focused instead, to use her own words, on learning how to live a new life’.
He added: ‘Her resilience and positivity is extraordinary.’
A spokesperson for Aspire, a spinal injuries charity where Grace gives speeches, dubbed her an ‘absolute inspiration’.
By setting up an Aspire Your Fund through the organisation, Grace has been able to raise money to purchase essential equipment to help her rehabilitation and independence.
She is now planning a civil claim against Westfield, according to her solicitor, who claimed the shopping centre has ‘a duty to keep people safe’.
Mr Donovan said: ‘[Trawally] had been in Westfield for four-and-a-half hours and been seen in areas where the public shouldn’t go and was behaving in a bizarre way.’
Sentencing Trawally, the judge said: ‘There is nothing to suggest that this was a spontaneous or impulsive act on your part. Therefore, there was a significant degree of premeditation.’
He went on: ‘It might be said that you effectively used your body as a weapon to carry out this offence, given that you could have been in no doubt at all that you were very likely to fall on top of one of the people in the crowded area below.’
Femail has reached out to Westfield for comment.