A RAPIST has been sentenced to nine years' imprisonment after he attacked a woman at knifepoint in an Epping street.
Arvydas Lenderskis, 23, of Henley Road, Ilford, pounced on his victim shortly after midnight in Tower Road on July 25 last year.
The woman, who is in her mid-thirties, was walking near the rear of the Gates car showroom when Lenderskis grabbed her from behind.
He pushed her into a driveway between two houses before threatening her with a knife and demanding money.
When he discovered she only had £3 in her purse he demanded her Nokia telephone and, after taking that, raped her.
Lenderskis was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment at Chelmsford Crown Court having earlier pleaded guilty to rape.
A spokesman for Essex Police said: “As the Judge said, this is every woman's nightmare and has proved so for this woman, who suffered a traumatic ordeal.
“The nine-year sentence is a mark of the severity of the crime, but the guilty plea has at least saved her from re-living that nightmare in the witness box."
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