A judge has praised a
victim who stabbed a 'sex predator' in the neck with her keys after he pounced
on her in the street. Church-going student, Joshua Okugbeni, 21, ran off with
his trousers still down after the brave woman punctured his lips. He had grabbed the woman from behind as she walked to work one
morning - putting his hand over her mouth and dragging her towards a wall.
Okugbeni asked the victim for a kiss and pulled his own trousers down- and his
victim reacted in fear she was about to be raped.
A court heard minutes
earlier Okugbeni had already left another woman petrified after following her
off the Newcastle Metro. He stalked her through the streets and also grabbed her
with his hand over her mouth.
Yesterday, the pharmacy
student was jailed for five years and four months at Newcastle Crown Court
after he admitted assault with intent to commit a sexual offence and common
assault.
Judge Christopher
Prince told Okugbeni: “With admirable courage and presence of mind (the
second victim) reached into her handbag, took out a bunch of keys and, in the
belief you were about to rape her, she stabbed you in the neck with those keys.
That allowed her to escape from your clutches and run away.
“She was in an
absolutely terrified state, not that that must diminish the admiration
everybody must have for her fighting back so tenaciously. This is every woman
and man’s nightmare, that as they try to go about there everyday lives in
public streets, they may be attacked by somebody like you, with an intent to
commit a sexual offence. I’ve got to express the courts admiration for (the
second victim’s) presence of mind in fighting back against her attacker and
taking out her keys and stabbing him in the neck.”
How it happened:
The first victim was on
her way to work around 6.45am last November when she ended up in the same Metro
carriage as Okugbeni. He moved to sit closer to her then got off behind her at
Seaburn station, following her along the platform and into nearby streets.
As she walked along he
suddenly grabbed her arm from behind then pretended he just wanted directions.
The woman was petrified and Okugbeni repeatedly apologised but then kept
following her, as she quickened her step in fear. She raised the alarm and
Okugbeni pushed her against a door and put his hand over her mouth, muffling
her shouts for help.
He then gave up, running
away until he came across the second victim, who is in her 30s, and fixed his
sights on her.
Prosecutor Bridie
Smurthwaite said: “When he saw her he crossed the road and followed her.
She realised the defendant was behind her and heard footsteps getting faster
and faster. As she walked into a cut, he came up behind her and put one hand
around her mouth and the other around her stomach and dragged her towards the
wall.”
Okugbeni told the woman
"All I want is a kiss, shush, just give me a kiss" and held her
against a wall by her shoulders.
Miss Smurthwaite said:
“Then he pulled her trousers down and said ‘look’. As he said ‘look’ he looked
down towards his trousers and she had the presence of mind to unzip her handbag
and take hold of her keys. She was afraid he would rape her and thought to
herself ‘I’m not getting raped by him’ and stabbed him in the neck, wounding
him. He looked startled and they both ran off, him still with his trousers
down.”
Okugbeni, of Cleadon-Lea
on South Tyneside, pleaded guilty to common assault on the first victim and
assault with intent to commit a sexual offence against the second woman. The
first victim said she’d been left unable to sleep and was left feeling anxious.
She added: “This has
left me terrified and so scared in case he comes back. I feel like my life has
changed in an instant and I can’t get it out of my head.”
The second victim
branded Okugbeni a “sick pervert” in her statement. She added: “This has left
me very frightened. I believe his intention was to rape me and I think he
thought I was an easy target because I’m petite. I think he is a predator and a
danger to women who needs to be kept away from the public. He is a disgrace to
humanity and I hope his life is ruined.”
Jailing Okugbeni for
five years and four months and ordering him to sign the sex offenders register
for life, Judge Prince told him: “The facts of your offending are disturbing to
hear but, more importantly, they were terrifying for the two victims who were
subject to them.”
Alec Burns, defending,
said Okugbeni has questioned whether his drink had been spiked that night but
can’t prove it.
Mr Burns added: “This is
completely out of character. He is a young man from a professional, religious
family and both his parents have always attended court and his pastor attends
today. He understands the distress he must have caused and he has shown genuine
remorse and has suffered depression thinking about what he has done to these
unfortunate women.
“They are probably happy
to hear he has destroyed his own life in this fifteen minutes of madness. He
was studying pharmacy at university and that is not something he now is able to
do. He has been helping out at his church since then and he is a young man who
has helped with charities.
“It can’t be proved that
his intention was to rape and suspicion is not sufficient in a criminal court.
He can’t work out how he behaved like this but he offers a genuine apology.”
Source: Mirror.co.uk
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