Teenager 'killed Polish man with one Superman punch'

Arkadiusz Jozwik died in hospital two days after the attack in Harlow, Essex

Floral tributes and a photograph of Arek Jozwik are seen on a bench at the shopping centre where he was killed, in Harlow, Essex (Getty)

A teenager killed a Polish man with just one “Superman punch” which caused him to fall and hit his head, a court has heard.

Arkadiusz "Arek" Jozwik died in hospital of head injuries two days after being attacked outside a row of takeaway shops in Harlow, Essex shortly after 11.30pm in August 2016.

He had been drinking with two friends and had stopped to buy pizza when he was allegedly set upon by a group of teenagers who were mocking his and his friends’ poor English.

Prosecutor Rosina Cottage QC said the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, “appears to jump in the air and swing his arm with force to the head of Mr Jozwik” in CCTV footage of the incident as the 40-year-old appeared to trip up over his own feet.

She said: "The prosecution does not say that (the youth) thought for a moment that what he did would result in the death of a man.

"However, we say he moved deliberately around the back of Mr Jozwik to take him by surprise and to hit him from behind.

"[The youth] jumped up from the ground using the whole force of his body to hit Mr Jozwik to his head.

"From what looks to be like a 'superman punch' that he threw he must have intended to send the man to the ground."

The 16-year-old, who was 15 at the time of the attack, sat with his parents at the back of the courtroom at Chelmsford Crown Court during the trial on Tuesday as the judge and barristers sat without wigs due to his age.

Ms Cottage said Mr Jozwik and his two friends, Radek Koscelski and Jakub Lusiecki, were sitting on a bench eating their pizza near the group of teenagers who were on bikes and had been there for most of the day.

She said Mr Jozwik and Mr Koscelski had been drinking vodka "speaking loudly and appeared to be drunk and smelt of alcohol", while Mr Lusiecki – who had been drinking beer – appeared to be sober.

The attention of the Polish men was drawn to the group of teenagers as "something was kicked or thrown close to them" in The Stow shopping precinct, she explained.

"There was some laughter about their English and one of the teenagers was cycling around the group," Ms Cottage said.

She said Mr Koscelski "was swaying and drunk and may have been argumentative, offering to fight", but he made no physical contact.

The barrister said two boys cycled close to Mr Koscelski and Mr Jozwik, which "seemed to spark a disagreement" between the two groups.

Blood alcohol tests on Mr Jozwik showed he was around “twice over the legal limit to drive” but “there was no need for violence to be offered to either man”, Ms Cottage said.

She said: "[The prosecution] say he was not aggressive to the group and certainly not [the defendant].

"For whatever reason, maybe even just immature bravado, the prosecution say [the defendant] took a deliberate decision to use unlawful violence when he went around the back of the group to punch Mr Jozwik."

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by PA