East Ham sex attacker jailed

A labourer who ripped a 14-year-old girl’s top off to stop her from leaving his flat has been jailed for nine months.

Tiberiu Fekete, 37, hit, choked and tore at the clothes of the victim during a sustained assault which he said was punishment for her “misbehaving”, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

He later dragged her around by her feet and snatched her mobile phone before locking the doors to the flat in High Street South, East Ham, on January 5 this year.

Pausing to swig from a bottle of alcohol, he then grabbed a pair of scissors and snarled menacingly: “I will kill you – I don’t care if I get five or ten years. You will die.”

The girl, who cannot be named because of her age, was kept in the flat until the next day when she called police.

She was taken to hospital. Doctors found she had a broken left index finger and bruises on her arms, legs, left ear, back and head.

Fekete was arrested and at first told police officers that nothing had happened but he later admitted a charge of assault causing actual bodily harm.

Passing sentence, Judge John Lafferty told him: “You maintained a sustained attack on the victim, striking her on a number of occasions, even when she was on the floor.

“You frightened her, she was left with extensive bruising and her ring finger was fractured.”

Defence barrister Tim Green said Fekete, who was evicted from his home after his arrest, was deeply remorseful for what had happened and had been under stress due to money problems.