Sex assault accused Petrit Kurti cleared... but convicted of theft
by Paul Hooper
A trainee carpenter – cleared of sexual assault after claiming to
be a Good Samaritan - has left court branded a thief and a liar by
a judge.
Petrit Kurti, 20, had been accused of sexually assaulting a
20-year-old Canterbury girl during an incident in Northgate Road in
January.
But a jury at Canterbury Crown Court acquitted him of the sex
attack but found him guilty of stealing a mobile phone belonging to
the drunken girl.
Now Judge Adele Williams has told him: “On this occasion you had
absolutely no business at all to follow a woman around the streets
of Canterbury in the early hours of the morning.
"You terrified this young woman and I have no doubt that because of this incident she remained traumatised for a long period of time" – Judge Adele Williams
“When you confronted
her you stole her mobile phone which was found in your possession
some days later by the police.
“Having seen and heard you give evidence, I totally reject your
claim that you were trying to help her because she was drunk. I am
sure you are not telling the truth about that.
“You terrified this young woman and I have no doubt that because
of this incident she remained traumatised for a long period of
time.”
Kurti, of Church Road, Folkestone was given a six-month jail
sentence suspended for two years, ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid
work and will remain under partial house arrest for the next four
months.
Kurti, who denied both charges, rejected the claim that he had
stalked the girl near Sainsbury’s car park –claiming he had gone to
help her because she was “constantly falling over”.
After being freed, the Judge warned him: “Never again follow
young women in circumstances such as this, otherwise you will find
yourself in custody...do you understand?”
Kurti – described by college officials as “a model pupil” –
replied: “Yes”.
30/11/12
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