Police are investigating

Musician, 26, attacked and mugged as he walked to play gig in Romford

Ramzy Alwakeel, Reporter Tuesday, January 15, 2013
5:56 PM

A routine trip to play a gig in Romford ended in a violent mugging for a young keyboardist.

His attackers ended up making off with a laptop bag containing his Apple Macbook, a hard drive, an iPhone, £100 worth of audio cables and some personal notebooks.

The 26-year-old, who asked not to be named, struggled against his attackers, pleading with them not to take the computer that had “my life on it”.

But the pair, described as black males, told him to shut up, punched him in the head, threatened him with a knife, and put their hands over his mouth to stop him calling for help.

The attack happened at about 8pm on Thursday, January 10, as the man was walking towards Junction Road, carrying a keyboard, a stand and the laptop bag.

“A car pulled up in front of me,” he told the Recorder. “Two men got out, walked towards me and grabbed me.

“They held my hands by my sides and dragged me onto a driveway. They were saying: ‘Just give us what you’ve got.’ I asked them not to hurt me and they said: ‘Shut up – we’ve got a knife.’

“They tried to stop me talking by putting an arm round my neck and holding up the knife. I was yelling to try and get attention so they put their hands over my mouth.

“They inspected my keyboard and decided it was useless to them. One of them was trying to grab my laptop bag and then they punched me.

“I was saying: ‘Don’t take this – it’s got my life on it.’

“But they kept pulling it and hurting my arm, and then they took it and ran.

“I was on the verge of a panic arrack, but I managed to get up and catch my breath, and then I screamed for help.”

Fortunately the man, of South Hornchurch, had backed up his hard drive earlier that day – but he said he had been scarred by the attack.

“You don’t expect any of this to happen,” he said. “I feel cheated – like I could have done something more to protect myself. It’s something that’s not going to go away for a while.

“People shouldn’t have to walk out of their house in total fear – it’s not fair.”

If you have any information about the mugging, call Romford CID on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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