Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Former university worker held knife to woman’s throat
Christ Church employee plotted sex attack
A former university worker forced a young woman to strip naked at knifepoint during a plot to sexual assault her. Newsun Jose’s victim feared for her life as he put her through the terrifying ordeal at his home in Canterbury.
She was attacked as she offered to help Jose - who at the time held a non-teaching role at Canterbury Christ Church - after hearing him being sick. A jury was told he drew a kitchen knife, slapped her five or six times and ordered her to strip as he prepared to sexually assault her.
“He was trying to kiss me and I told him I didn’t want to do this,” she told police.
“He was holding me down by my neck.
“He then pulled a knife on me and held it to my neck and told me to remove my clothes. I removed them.
“I thought he was going to kill me - what else could I do?” The woman scrambled towards the bedroom door when Jose began throttling her on the landing.
But a man inside the property rushed to her aid after hearing screams and found a “wild-eyed” Jose with his hands around the victim’s throat.
“Her hair was all messed up and she was crying,” he told the jury at Canterbury Crown Court. “I asked him to stop doing what he was doing and get dressed.
Asked to describe Jose’s demeanour, he said: “Wild-eyed and frenzied.”
He called 999 and Jose was arrested the same day. Jose, of Salisbury Road,
was found guilty of assault with intent to commit a sexual offence following a trial in March.
He was jailed for six years on Tuesday and told he will serve an additional four years on licence upon his release. Investigating officer DC Jeff Brunger said: “Jose, despite overwhelming evidence, has never accepted his actions or showed any remorse.
“He consistently blamed others for his actions and sought to lay the blame on his victim. “I have no doubt that Jose is dangerous to women and that it is right and proper he was imprisoned, ensuring that others are protected from him. “I would like to thank the courage and the conviction of the victim and witnesses in this case for reliving what was a very traumatic incident.”