University of Essex student assaulted woman in flat

Sentenced – Patricio Inchauste Cunioli received a suspended jail term for assaulting his victim <i>(Image: Daniel Rees, Newsquest)</i>
Sentenced – Patricio Inchauste Cunioli received a suspended jail term for assaulting his victim (Image: Daniel Rees, Newsquest)
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A DRUNK 20-year-old University of Essex student who assaulted a woman in his flat has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Patricio Inchauste Cunioli told the victim he found her attractive and she had received an injury to her head as he tried to block the front door to stop her leaving, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

In an emotional statement read to the court the victim said she had felt terrified during the attack and described the defendant as being “cold and composed”.

She said that since the incident she found “being awake torture and being asleep a nightmare”.

She said the assault had drastically changed the way she lived her life and had left her always looking over her shoulder.

She frequently looked across the court at the dock where  Cunioli was sitting as she read her impact statement.

Sentencing Cunioli, recorder David Wood said he should be ashamed of the way he had treated the woman especially after hearing the devastating affect his behaviour had had on her life.

Cunioli of no fixed address, admitted offences of assault causing actual bodily harm and criminal damage which were committed on December 12 last year.

He was given an 18 month prison sentence suspended for 12 months and banned from contacting the victim for 18 months.

The judge didn’t order him to pay the victim any compensation after she said she didn’t want such an order to be made.

Jack Coyne for Cunioli said Cunioli had reflected on what happened and he had hardly touched alcohol since the incident.

“This has been a sobering experience for him.” 

He said that since the attack Cunioli had been ostracised by fellow students on campus and had been forced to leave and renew his studies at a university in Rotterdam.

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