Straphanger blinded by manic Waheed Foster recalls how random attack ‘changed’ her life in statement read at sentencing
The straphanger brutally stomped by a deranged vagrant at a Queens subway station says she remains so traumatized by the unprovoked attack that she couldn’t bear to face the brute in court on Monday.
“Being in court today would have brought back so much pain, tears and bad memories, the kind of pain and memories I’m trying to forget,” Elizabeth Gomes wrote in a statement read at Waheed Foster’s sentencing.
Gomes said she can’t forget the nightmare “because every time I look in the mirror I always remember.
“I’m very thankful that I’m still alive and truly thankful that Mr. Foster will be locked away for some time, even though it wouldn’t make me get my eyesight back,” the statement said.
Foster, who still faces a murder charge in the Bronx for allegedly strangling his girlfriend to death, was sentenced to 22 years in prison as part of a plea deal stemming from the violent caught-on-video attack at the Howard Beach-JFK Airport station on Sept. 20, 2022 that cost her the sight in her right eye.
Foster has an extensive mental health history and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
“In this case the defendant has been in and out of hospitals time after time after time,” Judge Ira Margulis said during the proceedings in Queens Supreme Court.
“He should not have been out on the streets,” the judge said. “He should have been in a mental hospital, a state hospital being treated there. Because he showed time after time when he was released and taken off his meds, he continued to commit crimes.”
Gomes, who works in security at Kennedy International Airport, was on her way to work when she was attacked.
Foster already had a long rap sheet of violent crimes, including for beating his 82-year-old grandmother in a dispute over money when he was just 14 years old, law enforcement sources said.
In 2010 he stabbed a woman in the face at a mental institution, and in April of last year he was charged with strangling his former girlfriend to death on Aug. 6, 2022 in the Bronx.
He remains at Rikers Island without bail on that case and is due back in court on July 24.
Gomes, meanwhile, said she has to carry scars of that attack for the rest of her life.
“I have people ask me what’s wrong with my eyes,” her statement said. “Sometimes little children think I’m scry. I try to overcome all negative comments and try to be strong, especially for me and my children and other women out there.”
