A Bulgarian who allegedly kicked a woman down the stairs at an underground station in Berlin has been arrested after complaining loudly on a coach about a fellow passenger using a mobile phone.
The attack, in October, was captured on video and when it went viral earlier this month the prime suspect, Svetoslav Stoykov, 27, fled to France, where he hid with relatives in Nice.
But the father-of-three decided it was safe to head back to Berlin and boarded a Eurolines bus with his wife, Tsvetanka.
By chance the coach driver was also Bulgarian and when he heard him complaining about another passenger talking too loudly on her mobile phone, the pair began speaking in Bulgarian.
He said he then realised who his difficult passenger was and cooked up a plan with another passenger for the police to be called and they were waiting to arrest Stoykov when the bus arrived in Berlin.
Svetoslav Stoykov (pictured), was identified as the prime suspect for the attack. He fled to France but was arrested on his arrival back in Berlin
CCTV footage of the shocking attack, which showed a man kicking an unsuspecting woman down the stairs at an underground station while he casually smoked a cigarette while holding a bottle of beer, went around the world.
Dozens of police officers were waiting at the bus station in Berlin when Stoykov’s coach arrived.
He had booked a ticket with extra legroom for the 21-hour journey from southern France.
The Berlin prosecutor’s office said Stoykov did not put up any resistance during his arrest.
The man believed to be Stoykov, dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, aims a targeted kick at her back, toppling her down the stairs
Stoykov, who was originally from the city of Varna in his native Bulgaria, has been interviewed by prosecutors in Berlin but it is unclear if he is admitting or denying his involvement in the incident.
Thomas Fels, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, said a judge had ordered he be taken into preventative detention on suspicion of committing grievous bodily injury.
Under German criminal law, Stoykov could face anywhere from six months to 10 years in prison if convicted of having inflicted grievous bodily injury.
The attacker’s three companions glance at the woman lying on the floor before leaving. One of them even leans down to pick up a beer bottle and then walks off
He is already well-known to Bulgarian law enforcement, where he has a lengthy criminal record which involves multiple convictions for robbery, theft and hooliganism.
In the video the four men can be seen following the young woman down into the metro, with one of them kicking her while she is going down the stairs.
She lands painfully on her face, sprawling on the hard surface, the contents of her handbag scattering across the floor.
