Daniel Mihai Popescu stabbed his ex-girlfriend in the street outside her house in Aberfan,Wales
Credit: Athena Pictures
A knifeman who stabbed his pregnant ex-partner was arrested for stalking her and then bailed weeks before the attack,a court was told.
Daniel Mihai Popescu,29,attacked Andreea Pintili,with an eight-inch blade as she dropped her children to school in Aberfan,South Wales,in December.
Ms Pintili,who was 37 weeks pregnant with Popescu’s child,suffered stab wounds to her hands,back and right side. Her unborn baby also survived the attack.
Popescu,a chocolate factory worker who was born in Romania,was jailed for 17 years at Merthyr Crown Court on Tuesday.
In the months before the attack,he had stalked Ms Pintili after their three-year relationship ended in August 2023,the court was told.
This included calling her from withheld numbers,filming her and uploading the footage on TikTok,sitting outside her home,repeatedly knocking on her window and leaving clothes outside her door.
Popescu was arrested and released on bail with a condition not to contact her.
Just weeks later,he returned to Ms Pintili’s home in the former mining village and lay in wait for her behind a car.
Andreea Pintilli was 37 months pregnant when she was attacked by Daniel Popescu
Credit: Athena Pictures
In two videos shown to the jury,Popescu could be seen jumping out from behind a red car and grabbing Ms Pintili’s arm as she walked along the street.
The footage shows her trying to break free before falling to the floor and screaming as Popescu stabs her multiple times.
A woman nearby saw the attack and screamed,which caused Popescu to run off,the court was told.
The attack has raised questions about how Popescu – who Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said was at “high risk of serious harm to current victim and future partners” – was allowed free reign to stab his former partner after being arrested.
South Wales Police is undergoing investigation by the policing watchdog,the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC),after the attack.
An IOPC spokesman confirmed that the investigation “is ongoing at this time” after the force made a mandatory referral to the watchdog.
In a victim personal statement read out to the court,Ms Pintili said she felt “lucky to be alive after this harrowing experience”.
She said that she feared for her life as Popescu came at her with a knife and tried to get her into her home.
“I have no doubt that if he had got me into the house he would have killed me. This was clearly his intention that day,to kill me and my unborn child,” she said.
She welcomed his guilty verdict but said she will “never be safe from this man”.
She added: “I feel very scared and anxious of the thought of him being released. He did not abide by any bail condition,and I feel he’ll also ignore any restraining orders placed upon him.”
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