Maidstone Crown Court Sentencing Results

Teodor-Alin Pirvu lured a woman to his home on Rochester High Street in April 2023 while she was waiting for a friend. Once inside, he subjected her to a prolonged and terrifying ordeal, demanding sex, punching and kicking her repeatedly, strangling her with a scarf, holding knives to her throat, and warning he would kill her. He prevented her from leaving until the next day, when she managed to escape with visible injuries including bruises, swelling to her face and head, and hearing loss. Police recovered the scarf and knives used in the attack, and Pirvu was arrested after the victim bit him on the cheek.

Jan Ali Gholami murdered his two-year-old daughter the victim by inflicting catastrophic brain injuries on 27 May 2020, likely by throwing her to the floor or against a wall. He created a false alibi by going shopping and photographing another child before leaving the house. The victim was taken unresponsive to Darenth Valley Hospital with a large swelling to the back of her head; he claimed she fell downstairs while he was out. She died two days later in King’s College Hospital. Post mortem revealed earlier suspicious injuries, including a similar traumatic brain injury days prior when the victim's mother was in hospital giving birth, and a fractured upper arm weeks before, which caused pain but was not treated medically.

Jan Gholami murdered his two-year-old adopted daughter, the victim, by bashing her head against a wall at their home in Gravesend, Kent, in May 2020, causing a severe skull fracture from significant impact. The victim was taken to hospital on May 27, 2020, and died two days later on May 29, 2020. Prosecutors stated he acted out of bad temper following a rivalry between the victim and his favourite son. He had a history of violence, including alleged domestic abuse and previous injuries inflicted on the victim.

Stefan Farbrother subjected a child to an appalling and terrifying campaign of repeated sexual abuse over a five-year period during the 1990s. This included multiple rapes, holding a knife to the victim's throat, and restraining them with handcuffs. The abuse was reported to Kent Police in 2018, leading to his arrest in June 2018 and subsequent conviction on thirteen offences, including seven counts of rape and multiple indecent assaults.

Jack Benham and another person subjected the victim to a night of violent discipline in a caravan in Hernhill, Kent, in November 2020. The victim, aged 18 months, suffered 70 injuries, including bruises, broken ribs, arms, and a leg, with traces of cocaine in his system. He died on November 28, 2020, as a result of the assault.

Sian Hedges and her former partner Jack Benham subjected her 18-month-old son to a night of violent discipline in a caravan in Hernhill, Kent, in November 2020. The victim suffered 70 injuries, including a myriad of bruises, broken ribs, arms, and a leg, and had traces of cocaine in his body. He died on November 28, 2020, during a whisky and cocaine-fuelled incident.

Jorge Garay strangled his 37-year-old partner, the victim, while on holiday in Peru on or around September 23, 2022. He wrapped her body in a tarpaulin and buried it in a makeshift grave on family-owned land in Lima. After the killing, Garay returned to the UK alone on October 4, 2022, emptied their shared flat in Dartford, and was later arrested in London on October 14, 2022, following a confession.

Aurel Birlan repeatedly assaulted and raped his victim while she was unconscious in a public place during the early hours of one morning in December 2021. The assaults lasted almost two hours until a passer-by intervened, noticing the victim was in a state of undress, not moving, and appeared injured. CCTV footage captured the victim's repeated pleas for him to stop and showed she was unconscious for more than an hour.

George Knights murdered the 38-year-old victim by stabbing him in the head after they met to discuss the sale of cocaine in October 2020. Following the murder, Knights tried to dissolve the victim's body in sulphuric acid inside a wheelie bin at his home. Police discovered the body during a search, along with evidence such as a video on Knights' phone showing him with cocaine and bragging about the killing, and a tattoo on his neck resembling the murder weapon.

Paul Marsh, while caring for the three-year-old victim, inflicted catastrophic head injuries on her at her home in Sandgate, near Folkestone, on 21 December 2019, after becoming frustrated that she had not finished her lunch. Bruising on her face and head indicated previous assaults. He called emergency services at 3.10pm claiming she had fallen, but medical experts determined the injuries were likely caused by an impact, such as being thrown against the headboard or side of her bed. The victim was flown to a hospital in London but died on 24 December 2019.

David Fuller, a 67-year-old hospital electrician, murdered the victims, aged 25 and 20, in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in 1987, by beating and strangling them before sexually assaulting their bodies. He was arrested in 2020 following a DNA breakthrough. Additionally, between 2008 and November 2020, he sexually abused the bodies of at least 102 women and girls aged nine to 100 in hospital mortuaries, recording the acts on video. These abuses occurred at the Kent and Sussex Hospital and Tunbridge Wells Hospital, where he worked in electrical maintenance since 1989.

Victor Maibvisira, known as Vee, led a gang attack on October 6, 2017, in East Street, Gillingham, as revenge for a stolen bike and prior confrontations between C4 and G10 gangs. The group smashed the windscreen of a Renault Clio where the victim was sitting, then chased and attacked him in a narrow front garden. Maibvisira stabbed the victim four times, including a fatal wound severing an artery in the right armpit. The victim begged him to stop, shouting 'Stop, that’s enough Vee, I get the point. I am sorry.' Maibvisira's DNA was on the knife sheath found at the scene, and a witness saw him stab the victim. He had previously threatened to kill the victim and brandished a Ninja-type sword.

Tyler Ralph joined the gang in the fatal attack on the victim on October 6, 2017, in East Street, Gillingham. The group, armed with knives and wearing masks, targeted the victim in a revenge attack over a stolen bike. They smashed car windows, chased him to a front garden, and assaulted him with punches, kicks, stamps, and stabs. Ralph was fascinated with knives and thought carrying them was glamorous. He participated in the cold, calculated killing without showing mercy.

Ephrain Akinwunmi-Streets participated in the group attack on the victim on October 6, 2017, in Gillingham, involving stabbing, punching, kicking, and stamping. The attack was a revenge assault by the G10 gang following a bike theft and prior clashes. He was part of the silent, calculated mob that trapped and killed the defenceless victim without mercy. Additionally convicted of an affray on October 1, 2017.

Jordan Dania participated in the gang murder of the victim on October 6, 2017, in East Street, Gillingham. As part of the G10 group, he joined the revenge attack triggered by a bike theft and prior violent clashes. The teenagers, armed with knives, smashed the victim's car and pursued him to a narrow garden where they punched, kicked, stamped, and stabbed him four times, ignoring his pleas for mercy. The assault was silent, ruthless, and calculated.

Shezakia Daley was part of the five-member gang that murdered the victim on October 6, 2017, in Gillingham. The attack stemmed from gang rivalries and a stolen bike, with the hooded and masked group ambushing the victim in a car, smashing windows, and then chasing and stabbing him multiple times in a front garden. Daley used a knife in the joint assault, contributing to the savage beating that severed an artery. He also admitted to threatening two men with a machete outside the Fleur de Lis pub the day before.

In the late 1970s, John Aldridge, then a maths teacher at Bedgebury Park girls’ boarding school near Cranbrook, Kent, raped a teenage pupil during a visit to his flat. He groomed her by leading her to believe they were in a relationship, making her feel safe and in his thrall. She returned regularly despite the abuse, where he undressed her, touched her, and forced himself on her, taking her virginity. Rumours led to confrontation by the headteacher; Aldridge initially claimed tutoring but confessed to sex and was sacked. The victim reported him years later after seeing his name on a list of convicted paedophiles, following her parents' death. The school closed in 2006.

On the evening of May 6, 2017, Charlie White, Alex Macdonald, and Jimmy Buckley went out intending to steal a lawnmower. They came across the victim sleeping rough in a tent in the Loose Valley Conservation Area in Tovil, Maidstone. White and Macdonald carried out a joint attack on the 21-year-old homeless Romanian man using a meat cleaver and a heavy piece of wood, inflicting blunt force trauma to his head and body. His body was discovered the next morning, May 7, 2017, by a dog walker. The attack resulted in multiple skull fractures, facial bone fractures, broken ribs, and other injuries, leading to his death approximately 30 minutes after the assault.

On the evening of May 6, 2017, Alex Macdonald, Charlie White, and Jimmy Buckley went out intending to steal a lawnmower. They came across a 21-year-old homeless Romanian man sleeping rough in a tent in the Loose Valley Conservation Area in Tovil, Maidstone. Macdonald and White carried out a joint attack on the 21-year-old homeless Romanian man using a heavy piece of wood and a meat cleaver, inflicting blunt force trauma to his head and body. The victim's body was discovered the next morning, May 7, 2017, by a dog walker. The attack resulted in multiple skull fractures, facial bone fractures, broken ribs, and other injuries, leading to the victim's death approximately 30 minutes after the assault.

John Dickson, 27, assaulted the 20-year-old victim in a shopping centre car park in Broadstairs, Kent, on October 2016, following a dispute over a Facebook post insulting Dickson's ex-girlfriend Chloe Lemare. The attack was organised by Christopher Pollard after receiving threatening messages. Dickson restrained the victim in a chokehold and repeatedly kicked his head, leading to the victim's death from asphyxiation. The victim, who had Asperger's Syndrome and ADHD, was discovered by workers and pronounced dead at the scene.

Michael Bowditch was with the 17-year-old victim when she fell into the sea at the Port of Ramsgate, Kent, on May 1, 2016. Despite being present, he failed to assist her, call for help, or contact emergency services, leaving her to drown. He later reported the incident to the police several hours afterwards, and his actions were deemed grossly negligent.

Richard Donovan, while drunk, followed the 59-year-old homeless man to his tent on wasteland in Canterbury, gave him a beer, talked to him, and then shot him dead with a sawn-off shotgun on or around August 4, 2015, after becoming paranoid. He fled the scene, threatened a woman who he told about the crime, and later sold the gun. The victim's remains were undiscovered for 10 months.

George Emmett arranged to meet the victim in Chatham, Kent, on the night of the incident to discuss money owed to her. Instead, he assisted in forcing her into a car with accomplices. During the journey, he punched her in the face and beat her with her dog's lead before fleeing. The group demanded £2,000 from her, threatening her family's lives, and left her severely injured near Nunhead railway station after the attack.

Kaswayne Williams, along with accomplices, kidnapped a woman in Chatham, Kent, on the night of the incident. They forced her into a car, bound her hands with duct tape, stuffed a sock in her mouth, and drove her over 30 miles to south London. There, he dragged her out by her hair, beat her with a metal baseball bat, punched her with a knuckleduster, and threatened her with an imitation firearm. He demanded £2,000, threatening her family's lives, before dumping her near Nunhead railway station, leaving her for dead. The victim sustained serious injuries and was found by a passer-by.

Sheneqwa Delpratt drove the car used in the kidnapping of a woman in Chatham, Kent, on the night of the incident. She transported the victim over 30 miles to south London, where the woman was beaten with a metal bat, knuckleduster, and dog chain. Delpratt was involved throughout, including after the victim was assaulted and dumped near Nunhead railway station, leaving her for dead.

Linas Zidonis, along with Aleksandras Zuravliovas and Saulius Tamoliunas, forced their way into the bedsit of the two victims above Vesuvius restaurant in Lower Stone Street, Maidstone, on the evening of October 20, 2013, mistakenly believing the victims had complained about noise. Fuelled by alcohol, the trio conducted a savage two-part attack using fists, feet, wood, a broom handle, and metal bars, inflicting 100 injuries on the victim, who died from his wounds, and seriously injuring the other victim. The attack was unprovoked and showed no mercy, destroying the bedroom and adjacent bathroom.

Aleksandras Zuravliovas, along with Saulius Tamoliunas and Linas Zidonis, forced their way into the bedsit of the two victims above Vesuvius restaurant in Lower Stone Street, Maidstone, on the evening of October 20, 2013, mistakenly believing the victims had complained about noise. Fuelled by alcohol, the trio conducted a savage two-part attack using fists, feet, wood, a broom handle, and metal bars, inflicting 100 injuries on one victim, who died from his wounds, and seriously injuring the other victim. The attack was unprovoked and showed no mercy, destroying the bedroom and adjacent bathroom.