Man sentenced for shoving woman into subway on Upper East Side, leaving her paralyzed
NEW YORK (WABC) -- A man convicted of shoving a woman into a moving subway train in 2023, leaving her paralyzed, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Kamal Semrade, 42, was convicted of attempted murder and assault on March 9 of this year.
He was sentenced on Wednesday.
The unprovoked attacked happened at the Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street station on the Upper East Side in May of 2023.
Semrade boarded the same train as 35-year-old Emine Yilmaz Ozsoy who was commuting to work at the Roosevelt Avenue stop in Queens. At 6:05 a.m. he followed her off the train and shoved her by the head and neck into the departing subway train.
Her face and head hit the train and she was flung back onto the platform, fracturing her spine. After surgery, she remains paralyzed from the shoulders down.
During the sentencing on Wednesday, Ozsoy found the strength to face her attacker once again in court.
She said she has undergone six surgeries and attended countless therapy sessions to regain even a small degree of her independence.
She was an artist and now, with limited mobility in her arms and hands, says she is unable to work.
Semrade had nothing to say in response to Ozsoy's victim impact statement. His attorney asked the judge for leniency, but in rendering her decision, Judge Althea Drysdale noted Semrade's apparent lack of remorse.
"The sheer randomness of this incident is profoundly disturbing," Drysdale said.
For Ozsoy and her family, this is the first step toward healing emotionally.
"This isn't simply an outcome, it is a necessity for continuing my life," Ozsoy said.
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