Family demand justice after 22-year-old man with learning disabilities assaulted in Gosport play area

Marcel Bukowski, who has a severe learning disability, was at Holbrook Recreation Ground Play Area in Forest Way when he was assaulted at 6pm last Wednesday.

The 22-year-old was punched and elbowed in the face by an unknown man – who disappeared from the scene after Marcel rushed home to his shocked family.

His mother Sylwia – who moved with Marcel from Poland to Portsea, in Portsmouth, in 2007, before moving to The Glen, in Gosport, in 2018 - said: ‘He sometimes goes to the park on his own – he has always enjoyed going there.

‘He came back screaming and shouting - saying a bad man had hit him.

‘I just ran down to the park.’

A group of 10 children and teenagers said they witnessed the assault, with a 10-year-old girl calling the police.

Marcel was taken by ambulance to Gosport War Memorial Hospital, where he was examined a treated for cuts around his mouth – but his family feel the police are not doing enough to catch the culprit.

Sylwia said: ‘We were not given a reference number on the day it happened.

‘We have not heard anything since last week.

‘We feel the issue has been dismissed.’

The incident has been ‘traumatic’ for the whole family, according to Marcel’s step-father Mack Bartosiewicz, with Marcel saying he doesn’t feel safe going back to the play area.

Mack said: ‘This is the first time anything like this has happened to us.’

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But the community has been ‘amazing’, according to Sylwia, with a Facebook post about the incident attracting hundreds of messages.

She said: ‘We would like to say a big, big thank you to the community.

‘Someone wants to bake a cake for him - someone wants to take him to a Pompey match.

‘People have been amazing.’

The man who assaulted Marcel was described as being in his 40s, bald with a dark beard, and wearing a light blue Portsmouth FC shirt at the time.

Anyone with information is asked to call 101 and give reference number 44200276236.

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