An off-duty WPC feared she was going to die at the hands of a fellow officer – a martial arts expert – who repeatedly throttled her during a midnight attack in front of stunned customers at a packed Soho club.
Special Constable David Thomas Stevens, 38, of Slade Walk, Walworth, had downed at least eight pints at G.A.Y, Old Compton Street, (pictured) when he launched the drunken assault on the officer.
He dodged jail with a suspended prison sentence and is banned from pubs and clubs for twelve months.
“I feared for my life, I thought he was going to strangle me. I could not get a breath,” WPC Alexandra Kunicki, 32, told Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
“I thought I was going to die. I thought I was going to suffocate,” added the Southall officer.
Stevens, a warrant-card carrying part-time bobby, who also teaches martial arts, denied, but was convicted of assaulting WPC Kunicki, by beating, on March 15.
He is currently suspended from duty and the conviction will end his career as a Special Constable.
“There are two aggravating factors,” announced District Judge Quentin Purdy. “Firstly the attempted strangulation and secondly the sustained nature of the assault.
“He seems to know he is making up his evidence to make the facts fit as he sees them, but in reality he was so drunk he could not remember the incident fifteen hours later.”
Stevens was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment, suspended for twelve months, ordered to pay £350 compensation to the victim, plus £450 costs.
He was also disqualified from consuming alcohol in a public place and entering a public house or club during the period of the suspension.
The victim told the court she was waiting for a male friend at the club and had drank a couple of pints before approaching the bar for a third, tapping the defendant on the shoulder to get past.
“He turned around and grabbed my throat and pushed me back towards a pillar, it kind of shocked me.
“I reacted by pushing him back, but he responded by coming at me with both hands, grabbing my neck tighter than on the first occasion.
“I lost breath for a few seconds, making me a bit panicky and grabbed his arm at the pressure points,” explained WPC Kunicki. “That made him a bit more aggressive and he came at me a third time.
“I was panicked. I was pushed against a pillar by a man with his hands around my throat towering over me.
“People were stunned. I could feel the energy in the room. I think people got afraid,” she added.
“I was left with finger marks on my throat, grazes to my hand, bruising on my arms and a bump on my head.”
Security staff split the pair and were amused to discover they were both police officers.
WPC Kunicki identified herself as a policewoman to Stevens. “He said: ‘I am a police officer as well’ and showed me his warrant card.
“It shocked me as police officers should not behave the way he did,” she added.
Outside Stevens’ drinking-buddy, publican Lee Hubbard tried chatting the WPC up. “He winked at me and said: ‘I really like girls who can defend themselves’ and asked me for my phone number.”
Stevens, who spent over fifteen hours locked-up at Charing Cross Police Station and was on suicide watch, admitted he consumed 8 – 11 pints. “I was drunk towards the end.”
He claimed WPC Kunicki was the aggressor. “She was trying to claw at me and grab at me. My hands were at shoulder height. I was keeping her at arms length from me.
“Each time I pushed her away she grabbed hold of me and tried to get close,” explained Stevens, denying he used his martial arts skills on her. “To me it was like a playground scuffle. It didn’t seem particularly serious.”
Mr. Hubbard claimed the WPC flirted with him earlier at the bar, inviting him to pat her rear twice, but was the aggressor later on.
“The woman was trying to grab hold of him and he was trying to control her arms,” he told the court. “She was getting more agitated because she was not able to do what she wanted, take him down or whatever.
“Security thought it was amusing. This police officer and a special constable having a ding-dong.”
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