Path Wars: The Sentencing

Sentenced: Virk

A neighbour involved in a long-running dispute with the next-door couple, has been sentenced for breaching a restraining order by falsely accusing them of being drug-dealers.

However, Ruby Virk, 54, claims her life is being made a misery by the couple, accusing them of excessive noise and smoking cannabis.

She pleaded guilty to breaching the three-year order, which was made after the Crown Prosecution Service dropped harassment proceedings against her in relation to the couple in November, 2020. 

Virk was sentenced to a twelve-month Community Order, which includes 140 hours community service.

She was also fined £100 and ordered to pay her neighbour £250 compensation.

Police were called to her address in Haygreen Close, Kingston-upon-Thames at 4.30pm on November 3, last year to deal with a dispute involving Virk’s tenant and door locks being changed.

While the officers were there Virk’s neighbour’s opened their front door to see what was going on, said prosecutor Rose Edwin at an earlier hearing.

“The tenant said those neighbour’s were in trouble with the police and drug-dealers and he said he had got that information from his landlady, Virk.”

She is subject to a court-imposed restraining order made on November 25, 2020, prohibiting her from contacting her next-door neighbour’s; standing outside her front door; posting items to them and accusing them of being drug-dealers.

Ground Zero: Haygreen Close

“She has informed other parties that there neighbour’s are drug-dealers,” added the prosecutor.

The court heard Virk has four convictions for a total of fourteen criminal offences, mostly of a public order nature.

The male half of the couple detailed the problems living next-door to Virk in his victim impact statement.

“There has been a financial impact on our lives. We have had to instal an alarm system and installed security cameras,” he said.

“We have not slept well over the last three years and are awake at every noise and bang in the night in fear that Ruby is damaging our home or trying to get in again.

“We are in fear of her slander and lies that we are drug-dealers and racist.”

The neighbour said he lost an architecture role due to a stress-induced drop in his work performance.

“We are unable to use our garden or have guests over more than a few times due to the constant harassment.”

One underlying issue is a shared pathway both Virk and her next-door neighbour’s have to use to access their homes.   

Virk’s lawyer Catrina Sheehan told the court: “The victim impact statement seems to be highly-exaggerated. This charge is related to just one incident.

“The impact statement relates to many other older incidents.

“The background to this is a long history of a neighbour dispute and she says her life is being made a misery by the couple through noise and the smell of cannabis.

“She has required therapy and treatment for depression.”

Virk told the magistrates: “It was the height of the moment. It was an intense evening.” 

Church Party Guest Jailed For Raping 12 Year-Old

A church birthday party guest is starting a thirteen-and-a-half year prison sentence after shoving a 12 year-old attendee into bushes and twice raping her.

Ghana-born Kofi Prempeh, 28 - nicknamed ‘Africa’ - ignored the girl’s pleas to stop and her desperate attempts to push him off in the dark park as he walked her home. 

Prempeh, of Wide Way, Mitcham pleaded guilty to two counts of raping the girl in the park near Leighton Street, West Croydon on August 4, 2018 three days into his trial.

“How you can have gone from a young man with no history with the police to raping a child is difficult to fathom,” Croydon Crown Court Judge Elizabeth Smaller told him.

“It involved a considerable degree of violence in a public park late at night.

“She spent a period of time terrified she was pregnant and that must have added to the terror this young girl felt and she says there is not a day that goes by that what you did does not interfere with her life and she is still in counselling.

“I find you do pose a risk to young females and it is necessary to protect the public from you.”

Prosecutor Nicola Merrick told the court last Friday: “He claims he did not know how old she was at the time, but the Crown do not accept that assertion. He knew when he engaged with her that she was a child, aged twelve years-old.

“She had gone to a party organised in a church hall that the defendant had also attended and she overstayed longer than her mother agreed.”

Prempeh was not a stranger to the girl, who had attended alone.

“The defendant left the party with her at 10pm or so and arrived at her home address at around midnight, a journey that would normally take twenty minutes,” added the prosecutor.

“The route he took her on was through the park. It was dark and he pulled up her dress and pulled down her knickers.

“He warned her that she was not to tell her mother or anyone else what he had done and she experienced some bleeding the following days.”

Prempeh was arrested three months later and denied raping the girl, only finally admitting his guilt after the trial began and she had given evidence and been cross-examined.

During that trial the court heard the girl’s family believed she would be safe amongst fellow-churchgoers they knew.

Miss Merrick told the jury: “That evening there was a birthday party and the congregation attended and the girl’s mother thought members of the church would keep an eye on her daughter.

“She was outside the church when the defendant came out and spoke to her while holding a bottle of beer, which she thought was Guinness.

“She believes he tried to persuade her not to go home and as she walked through the park he was beside her.

“Mr Prempeh pushed her down into some bushes and pulled up her dress and touched her breasts and pulled her knickers down.

“She as shouting at him to leave her alone,” explained the prosecutor. “She was upset and tried to push him off.

“She was saying: ‘Stop, stop. There are people that can see you,’ but that did not seem to put him off.

“She was crying and he could see she was upset and told her to stop. She could not stop herself and he shouted: ‘No more crying.’

“The complainant phoned her mother and told her she was okay and the defendant kept telling the girl she was not to tell anyone what he had done to her and that it would be bad for her.

“The defendant told her: ‘If I find out you’ve said anything to anyone there will be trouble.’

“The girl confided in her cousin and three months later told her family what had happened.”

Prempeh’s lawyer John Hunter told the court on Friday there was little point making him subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order on release. “There is every possibility of him being deported in any event.

“He has expressed the shame he feels on a daily basis and during his time in custody he realises just how inappropriate his behaviour was and questioned if it was worth carrying on living.

“The impact on him has had a significant effect. It was not planned in any way, it was opportunistic and something that he bitterly regrets and will do so for the rest of his life.

“She was not pulled into bushes or anything of that sort and she is not entirely reliable in the evidence she did give. There was evidence of some accepting of what happened and wanting it to happen.”

However, Judge Smaller challenged this, remarking: “Well, on her evidence that is what happened and stating otherwise doesn’t do your client many favours.”

The judge told Prempeh: “Your counsel’s propositions are somewhat of an anachronism to me. I do not accept these submissions or that this girl suggested these acts should take place.”

The judge also extended the licence period following Prempeh’s release by four years and ordered him to sign the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and added his name to the barring list, which prohibits working with children and vulnerable adults.

Bus Sex Pest Sentenced After Police Appeal

A bus pervert, whose CCTV image was circulated by police after he molested a woman on the top deck, has been sentenced.

Adedoyin Adebiyi, 56, was caught on camera travelling onboard the Croydon-bound double-decker and was arrested and charged soon after the police went public.

He fought a charge of sexually assaulting the female passenger on the 468 bus on August 31, last year, but was convicted.

Adebiyi, of Lansdown House, Crawford Estate, Denmark Road, Camberwell appeared at Croydon Magistrates' Court.

The victim reported being molested by another passenger as she travelled on the service at 10.15am.

Police released this image of Adebiyi in October, last year and the appeal was widely published.

He was placed on a twelve-month community order, which includes 240 hours community service work.

The court also told Adebiyi he must sign the sex offenders register for the next five years.

He was also ordered to pay £250 compensation to the victim, £300 costs, plus a £95 victim surcharge.

Elizabeth Line Thugs Hunted For Brutal Attack

A gang of laughing tube train thugs hospitalised two male passengers, who were repeatedly punched and kicked, suffering serious facial injuries.

The two victims required multiple surgeries to their jaws while travelling on the Elizabeth Line between Ilford and Forest Gate stations, just before midnight on Monday, May 9.

British Transport Police (BTP) have released these images of two suspects they believe were part of the three-strong gang.

Three young men approached the victims and sat next to them on the train. 

One of the men placed his arm around one victim and demanded they both handed their phones over.

The group continuously asked for the victims’ phones and became more threatening as they refused, standing over them and kicking their legs.

They then briefly walked away whilst laughing, before returning to the victims and again demanding for their phones. 

One of the victims tried to stand up and the group surrounded him.

When the other victim attempted to intervene a member of the group punched him in the face, causing him to fall back down on the seat.

The group then repeatedly punched and kicked the victims in the face while they were both seated.

Both victims were taken to hospital with serious facial injuries, both requiring multiple surgeries to their jaws.

A 19-year-old man was arrested in connection to the incident.

Officers believe the young men in the CCTV images may have information which could help their investigation.

If you recognise them or have any information, please contact BTP by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 11 of 10/05/22.

Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Discount Masseur Jailed For Molesting Female Clients

A massage therapist, who molested two Groupon discount voucher female customers, is starting an eighteen-month prison sentence.

Police are convinced Jay Steel, 60, of Whieldon Road, Stoke-on-Trent abused more women and have appealed for those victims to come forward.

At Croydon Crown Court last Friday he was also ordered to comply with a seven-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and must sign the sex offenders register for the same period.

The two massage customers both separately complained to the police they had been variously touched between the legs, had their breasts fondled or made to touch masseur Steel’s crotch.

Both had responded to online ads, which offered discounted “deep tissue” massages for customers with Groupon vouchers.

He was convicted by a jury of three counts of sexual assault on February 27, 2017 in relation to the first woman and two counts of sexually assaulting the second woman on March 17, 2019. 

The first complaint, a 32 year-old television journalist told Croydon Crown Court Steel had a room in a Shand Thames dental surgery, near London Bridge.

“He was touching places only my boyfriend would touch,” she told the jury via her police video-recorded statement. 

She said she was face-down on the treatment table and Steel touched her between her legs when she asked for them to be massaged after a recent work-out injury. 

“As he went higher and higher I thought: ‘Where are you going?’ I totally freaked and must have made a sound because he said he was sorry and I felt so embarrassed for him.

“It happened again within a few minutes and I was flabbergasted. I made a horribly groaning croaky noise that was like: ‘Get the f*** off me.’

“This was under my underwear and I felt like I was not safe anymore and the person I had come to for help was a bit of a creep.

“I could feel myself tearing up and I was so embarrassed I froze.

“I just lay there like a dead animal thinking: ‘What’s the worst he can do in five minutes?’ I was so frightened that if I got up, I’m eight-and-a-half stone and he’s fourteen or fifteen stone.

“I couldn’t do anything. I was thinking: ‘You’re going to get raped or he he could really hurt you.’

“I booked a twenty-minute massage and got a two-hour ordeal,” she added, explaining Steel then placed each of her hands between his legs.

“He was using the shaking movement of my hand to touch himself. It was the kind of situation you think stupid ditzy girls get into.

“His breathing changed as if he was getting aroused.

‘His hands went into my bra and he started massaging really hard and it was causing me pain and I was going: ‘Argh, argh.’

“I could feel him touching my nipples. I was tearing up and he did this for ten minutes and mumbled something about lactic build-up.” 

She admitted not shouting out to Steel’s receptionist, telling him to stop or trying to flee the treatment room. “I was half-naked,” she said. “I was not sure how far I would get.”

Prosecutor Judith Benson told the jury the second woman saw Steel just over two years later at an address in Dollis Hill, north-west London.

“She described him pushing her buttocks apart and pressing his crotch against her right hand.”

The woman also told police Steel touched her between her legs and moved her hand between his legs. “She also said she could feel her bra coming away from her body.”

A third woman came forward and said Steel molested her during a massage on April 4, 2019, but he was not convicted on two counts of sexual assault in relation to her.

“He focused on her groin and buttock area over her clothing in a rubbing movement,” said Ms Benson.

“She says he also told her to adopt the ‘downward dog’ yoga position, resulting in her rear being raised. “She felt he was staring at her.”

The woman also told police Steel placed her hand between his legs and she told the friend she went with it was a “weird” experience.

Throughout the trial Steel claimed he behaved “perfectly properly” and did not intentionally touch the complainants intimately.

After the sentencing, investigating officer Detective Constable Victoria Gaunt said: “Jay Steel is a sexual predator, who used the guise of a masseur to assault women who had placed their trust in him, for his own sexual gratification.

“The women Steel abused have shown great strength and courage to report their ordeal to police and support our investigation - I hope his conviction brings them some sense of justice.

“It is highly likely that Steel carrie out other attacks while masquerading as a masseur.

“I would ask any women who believe they have been a victim of Steel to come forward and speak to police.

“I hope his conviction demonstrates the Met’s commitment to investigating sexual offenders and ensuring they are held to account for their actions.”

Platform Ponce: Pickpocket Caught By Cops

A pickpocket, who dipped a female commuter for her phone and was immediately captured by transport cops, has been jailed for six weeks.

Zakaria Cenouci, 23, nicked the iPhone X from the woman's coat pocket on the Victoria Line platform at King's Cross Underground Station at around 5.15pm on June 30.

Two undercover British Transport Police (BTP) officers were looking out for criminal activity on the platform and were onto the heartless thief even before the victim shouted out: “Hey!”

Cenouci did a quick u-turn and tried to flee the scene, but the officers caught him and returned the phone to the woman.

When searching the pickpocket officers also found a small quantity of a Class B drug.

At Westminster Magistrates' Court Cenouci pleaded guilty to theft and drug possession.

He was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment and ordered to pay the victim £152.

Inspector Sharon Turner of BTP's Priority Crime Taskforce said: “This was a quick turn around by our officers. 

“From the immediate arrest of Cenouci to his charge and jailing soon after.

“Our team is committed to ensuring passengers can travel safely with their belongings.

“We’ll always ask the public to make the jobs of thieves more difficult by keeping a close eye on their own belongings and being aware that thieves do choose to operate in crowded environments, which can often mean busy railway stations.”

Drink-Driver Blew Nearly Five Times The Limit

A drink-driver, who collided with another car and later blew an “off the chart” breath-test nearly five times over the limit, received a suspended prison sentence yesterday.

Divorced mother-of-two Marion Nye, 48, a Marks & Spencer customer services employee, was so drunk her reading exceeded the official sentencing guidelines.

However, in an unusual step, a District Judge decided to sentence her on the basis of the lower roadside breath-test she gave to police officers an hour and a half earlier.

Former library assistant Nye, of Heathfield Road, Keston pleaded guilty to driving her green Fiat 500 with excess alcohol in her breath in Pickhurst Lane, West Wickham on July 17.

The police and Crown Prosecution Service charged her on the basis of the 167 microgrammes reading recorded by the Intoximeter at Bromley Police Station.

However, District Judge Sushil Kumar accepted the lower 127 roadside reading Nye gave police.

The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Prosecutor Jennifer Gatland told Bromley Magistrates Court the roadside test was “not evidential.”

Police hand-held roadside test kits are not subject to the same regular calibration as the Intoximeter machines, which  are regularly checked and tested for accuracy.

The sentencing council’s recommendations only go up to readings of 150 microgrammes and suggest drink-drivers in that bracket can receive up to twenty-six weeks’ imprisonment.

“The breath-reading of 167 an hour-and-a-half after you ceased driving was so high that it was not even something the sentencing council guidelines even address,” District Judge Kumar told Nye.

“It is literally off the chart and the starting point for that in normal circumstances would be four months’ imprisonment.

“I am not going to sentence you to immediate imprisonment so you will be free to go today, but there were aggravating factors.

“There was a collision, you knew that you were intoxicated, there were people in the vicinity and the police officers spoke to bystanders who saw the collision take place.

“When the police attended you drove off for a short distance and, putting it bluntly, continuing to drive in that state you could have killed someone, killed yourself or an innocent bystander.

“I will sentence you on the basis of your roadside reading. You have pleaded guilty and are of previous good character and you have not been in trouble before or been before the courts in your forty-eight years.

“At the time of the offending there were a number of factors weighing heavily on you. Your divorce, the matters you suffered within the marriage, requiring you to seek assistance from outside charities.

“Your menopause and a medical diagnosis that had returned.

“I have no doubt it is something you will regret for the rest of your life. Your father was killed in a road traffic accident so you understand how serious this was.”

Nye received twelve weeks imprisonment, suspended for eighteen months and disqualified from driving for forty months.

She must also complete 80 hours community service work and obey a four-week non-electronically tagged nighttime curfew between 9pm and 6am, except on one day a week she works late.

Nye must also pay £85 costs and a £154 victim surcharge.

It was approximately 8.00pm when police officers saw two vehicles had collided at a roundabout, with several young women standing around.

“The second vehicle was a silver Golf and and they found Ms Nye, who was alone, in the driver’s seat of her Fiat,” explained Ms Gatland.

“The witnesses told the police the Fiat had crashed into the Golf while travelling on the wrong side of the road and there was damage to Ms Nye’s front bumper.

“The police officers thought the defendant was intoxicated and they wanted to speak to her and she drove off for around thirty metres.

“One officer gave chase on foot and she came to a stop as the officer drew level with her open window and the officer removed the key from the ignition.

“The aggravating features here are the fact there was a collision and the level of alcohol is literally off the scale when it comes to sentencing.”

Nye’s lawyer Sarah O’Leary told the court: “She has care responsibilities, she has two daughters aged thirteen and sixteen years-old and shares care with her ex-husband.

“As part of the divorce he kept the house and she is in a flat. She was previously working in a school and is now with Marks & Spencer’s customer services.

“She did end up spending two days at the police station and that clearly had a large impact on her.

“She is very distressed and embarrassed. The experience has scared her and she has not drank alcohol since.

“She knows custody is a very real prospect and is scared not just for herself, but her daughters and her mother to whom she also provides support.

“Her mental health is fragile due to the emotional abuse within the marriage and she has been in contact with her doctor as well.

“Custody could see her lose her job, her flat and impact the wider family.”

District Judge Kumar told Nye he was impressed by her efforts to engage with local alcohol services since her arrest.

“You have not been drinking since this and according to the pre-sentence report you are not a risk of causing serious harm to others,” he told her.

“An immediate custodial sentence would result in a serious impact on others, your daughters, who are of relatively young ages.

“You already face and suffer your loss of good character and carry the shame the loss of your good character brings.”

Estate Agent Crashed Into Bus Stop While Over Twice Drinks Limit

Ogden leaving Bromley Magistrates' Court

A drink-driving estate agent crashed her Mercedes into a bus stop while over double the limit before trying to flee the police on foot, a court heard.

Kirsty Ogden, 30, consumed four drinks at a works leaving party and was told on Monday she was fortunate nobody had been injured or killed.

“You were very lucky there was no-one standing in the queue at that bus stop and God forbid, had anyone been injured or even killed then you could have gone to prison for many years,” magistrate Timothy Nathan told her.

Ogden, of Vallance House, Callis Close, Woolwich pleaded guilty to driving the white Mercedes with excess alcohol in her breath in Charlton Park Road on July 15.

She had 78 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

The legal limit is 35.

She will lose her job at “one of the most profitable branches in the country,” after being banned from driving for twenty-two months; fined £300 and ordered to pay a £120 victim surcharge and £85 costs.

Prosecutor Dwain Coward told Bromley Magistrates’ Court: “Police received a call from an informant that a car had crashed into a bus stop and the female driver had exited and was walking away.

“The witness said the female was on a mobile phone saying: ‘I need your help,’ to whoever she was talking to.

“The police officers searched the area on foot and saw this defendant walking a short distance away.

“When she saw the police officers she began to run away and was chased and arrested and admitted she had been driving the vehicle and crashed it.”

Ogden’s lawyer Michael Gallagher told the court: “She says she had been drinking at a leaving do in Blackheath for a member of staff in her office.

“She had three or four drinks and felt fine to drive even though she had not eaten all day and decided the drive the short distance and misjudged and clipped the kerb and collided with the bus stop.

“She says she was pacing back and forth while on the phone and was walking around in circles.

“The police officers say she was crying, upset, frightened, disorientated and was asking for help.

“She does not believe she was running away from the police, but returning to the scene and accepts she had four drinks and was the driver.

“After an abusive relationship she came to London five years ago with no family support and was working in the hospitality industry until it was destroyed by Covid.

“After that career she began working as an estate agent and has been in her current role for three years, working as an estate agent on commission,” added the lawyer.

“The commission is quite low, equivalent to the minimum wage, but she has been quite successful  and was promoted to property consultant.

“She had taken out a lease agreement on the car, was working hard and felt she was doing well in her career.

“There was minor superficial damage to her Mercedes, but it would not start up and now she does not have enough money to repair it.

“Her employer has told her if she does not have a car she cannot work. She is unable to take people to viewings and travel to properties for what is one of the most profitable branches in the country.

“This is out of character. She has misjudged this and is going to pay for it. 

“She wants to be an estate agent and I ask you to go outside the guidelines of an approximate seventeen-month disqualification due to her remorse and co-operation.” 

Magistrate Mr Nathan disagreed. “We don’t share Mr Gallagher’s view. The police officers say, quite clearly, Ms Ogden left the scene and was running away and we regard that as an aggravating factor.

“You could have been charged separately for leaving the scene,” the magistrate told her. “We know you will lose your job and we are sorry about that.”

Lone Female Passenger Molested On Train To London Bridge

Police are hunting this suspected sex pest after a woman was molested onboard a train.

British Transport Police (BTP) have released this image and are appealing for the assistance of the public in identifying him.

The victim was travelling alone on a Lewisham to London Bridge train on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 22.

At just after 2.00pm a man sat next to her and tried to start a conversation.

He then leant over and began touching her inappropriately.

The victim got up to leave, but the man tried to block her from doing so with his legs. 

She then managed to push past him and get off the train at London Bridge station.

Officers believe the man in the CCTV images may have information which could help their investigation.

BTP are treating the complaint as a sexual assault.

If you recognise him, or have any information, please contact BTP by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 255 of 22/06/22.

Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

£1.7m VAT Fraud: Farmer In Court

A Horsham farmer pleaded guilty last Wednesday to fraudulently evading VAT.

Gayne Cooper, 61, who has two company directorships, appeared on bail at Croydon Magistrates’ Court.

The prosecution say £1.7m in VAT was fraudulently evaded.

He says the VAT figure is nearer £1.5m.

Cooper, of Stonehouse Farm, Plummers Plain was sent to Croydon Crown Court for sentencing on a date to be fixed.

He pleaded guilty to one count of being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of VAT between April 1, 2013 and December 10, 2019.

“The defendant has pleaded guilty to a serious offence,” announced District Judge Devinder Sandhu. 

“It is a serious matter,” she told Cooper. “You have indicated a guilty plea to this court, which does not have sufficient sentencing powers to deal with you.”

Magistrates courts are limited to maximum sentencing powers of twelve months imprisonment.

Drunken Tailor: Italian Design Expert Sentenced For Mayfair Assault

Cut Up Rough: Benettello

A master tailor, who has worked with the world’s leading designer brands, has been sentenced for repeatedly bashing his ex-girlfriend’s head on the pavement outside a luxury five-star Mayfair hotel.

Richard Benettello, 41, was seen on top of 37 year-old Solankhe Tchikaya, 37, holding her by the hair and banging her head before being dragged away by the hotel’s security staff. 

“It was a serious offence and we have been told there were no injuries, but it was a very nasty attack,” magistrate Dr. Lynne Gailey told him.

Benettello, who has worked with Giorgio Armani; Dolce & Gabbana and Burberry claims they were both drunk after eating and drinking at a landmark Peruvian restaurant and he was guilty of nothing more than “excessive self-defence.”

He pleaded guilty to assaulting the graduate marketing and communications specialist outside The Athenaeum, Piccadilly on May 27, last year.

Benettello, of Fulham Road, West Brompton was placed on a twelve-month Community Order, which includes a ten-day recommended activity requirement, plus attendance at a ‘building better relationships’ course.

He must also pay £775 costs and a £95 victim surcharge.

The magistrates scrapped a £100 compensation award to Ms Tchikaya, of Munster Road, Fulham because she did not support the prosecution and they had no details for her.

Benettello says they once dated, but were simply dining as “friends” at the nearby COYA Mayfair restaurant, which they left at half past midnight.

Prosecutor Jennifer Gatland told Westminster Magistrates’ Court Benettello had initially fought the charge and only pleaded guilty on the day of his trial, for which Ms Tchikaya was a defence witness. 

“Police were called to a report of a man hitting a woman in Piccadilly. The complainant was this defendant’s partner and witnesses heard screaming,” she said.

COYA Mayfair manager Filomena Clarizio later told police: “I heard a scream and thought there was a fight by the hotel.

“I noticed a couple and the male was on top. He had hold of her and was smashing her head on the ground.

Kept Schtum: Tchikaya

“Security pulled the male off the female, but he kept returning. The female went into the hotel and then I saw the male with the officers with blood on his hands.”

The blood was not Ms Tchikaya’s and she had no injuries, the court heard.

Ms Tchikaya told the witnesses: “He gets like that when he is upset,” and Benettello said: “I did nothing.” 

“This is clearly a serious and nasty assault that took place,” added the prosecutor. “Serious enough for members of the public to voice their concerns and call the police.”

The court heard Benettello received twenty-six weeks imprisonment last December for boarding an airplane while drunk and assaulting three cabin crew.

“There is a background of police involvement with this couple and there were a number of incidents in 2019 that did not result in a charge,” said Ms Gatland.

“On one occasion the defendant was threatening to harm the complainant, screaming at the top of his voice and kicking dustbins in the street.

“In 2018 there was an argument in the street and another incident when he attended her address, having been discharged from hospital.

“The victim was not willing to support any prosecution, including this one.”

Benettello’s lawyer Milad Shojaei said: “She was a defence witness and did not support the prosecution at the time. They were not in a relationship at the time of the incident and were just friends.

“He is a fashion stylist and master tailor and had been working in Saudi Arabia and came to the UK on a visit when he was arrested for this and has been in limbo for the last fourteen months.

“His employer is keeping his job open, but he has no financial support or any means of earning for the last fourteen months and has burned through his savings and borrowed from family and friends and can no longer pay his rent.

“He has had some very dark times and has been feeling suicidal during the last fourteen months.

“Mr Benettello has been going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, twice a day, for the last year to address his own offending behaviour and has been sober for the last thirteen months.

“He accepts there was excessive self-defence when they were intoxicated and they had a stumble.

“He accepts he behaved excessively. The paramedics confirm there were no injuries to her head and the blood was the defendant’s.”

Law Graduate Appears At Old Bailey Charged With Murdering Fiancé

Sam Mayo & Blaze Wallace

A law graduate, with ambitions to be a human rights lawyer, appeared at the Old Bailey yesterday charged with murdering her fiancé, who was stabbed to death.

Blaze Wallace, 27, of Mullins Path, Mortlake was not asked to enter a plea and was remanded in custody to HMP Bronzefield until October 11 by Judge Alexia Durran.

Wearing a grey sweatshirt and wiping away tears with a white handkerchief, a visibly distressed Wallace confirmed her age and date of birth at the start of the twenty-minute hearing.

She graduated from St. Mary’s University, Twickenham with a law degree in 2017 and at the time of her arrest was studying her Masters in human Rights & Legal Practice at the University of Roehampton.

Wallace is charged with the murder of Samuel Mayo, 34, who she became engaged to last month, in Lower Richmond Road on Monday, July 18.

A provisional trial date was fixed for June 12, next year.

Today, prosecutor Benjamin Holt confirmed the cause of death as sharp force trauma to the left side of Mr Mayo’s chest, inflicted with a knife.

He was treated by London Ambulance Service paramedics at 10.00pm and rushed to Kingston Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10.10pm.

Police attended the one-bedroom flat Wallace had shared with her fiancé for the previous six months and she was arrested on suspicion of his murder at 2.25am in the early hours of July 19.

One female security officer accompanied Wallace in the secure dock and after the hearing she mouthed words to her family in the public gallery above and shouted: “Love you all,” as she was taken back down to the cells.