A man has been jailed for a horrific rape attack on a sex worker in Huddersfield after threatening to kill her.
And the victim told a court: “I am surviving rather than living at the moment.”
Dawid Andrew Ziarnik was arrested after his victim saw him in Tesco the day after her ordeal and identified him to police.
Ziarnik, 27, of Bradford Road, Huddersfield, had denied the charges against him but changed his plea to guilty during his trial at Leeds Crown Court after seeing her describe the events last November.
He was then convicted by the jury on his own confession on three charges of oral rape and two of attempted rape and appeared for sentencing when a victim impact statement had been taken.
Ian Brooke prosecuting said the woman was working on the streets when she was approached by Ziarnik in Alder Street in the early hours of November 20. He asked if she was doing business and they agreed a price of £30.
She suggested one place to go but he told her he knew of a better place and they went to an alley where she asked for the money. He told her he wanted sex first and when she began to walk away threatened “You’ll do as I say or I’ll f…ing kill you.”
She was scared and started to cry and told him don’t and begged him to stop saying it was not right. He then said: “Just do as you’re told or I’m gonna hurt you.”
She said she was terrified and complied only because she was scared he would hurt her. She only managed to escape because a man on a bicycle interrupted them.
The court heard Ziarnak had previous convictions for public disorder, violence and extortion in Poland between 2007 and 2011 and had previously served a two year sentence.
In her victim impact statement the complainant said since the rape she has found it difficult to cope and has not been able to continue working on the streets.
She said she found it difficult to go near the area in Fartown where the rape happened because it “brings it all back that horrendous frightening night when I thought it was all going to end.
“I feel lucky I managed to get away but sad that he has made me feel so scared and unsafe. I am surviving rather than living at the moment.”
Robert Stevenson representing Ziarnik said he had changed his plea because he could no longer live the lie he had been telling.
“He wants to apologise to her. He said what he did was disgusting, he deserves being scorned and recognises saying sorry now doesn’t do anything to rectify the offences.”
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Jailing Ziarnik for eight years two months and ordering him to register as a sex offender for life, Recorder Abdul Iqbal QC said women working the streets were entitled to the same protection as anyone else.
During the 15-minute ordeal she was “in obvious distress and discomfort, you were laughing and spat in her face.”
He said the horrendous incident only ended when a man on a bike disturbed them. “As she left you waved a bottle of alcohol you took from her and laughed at her. You showed no remorse or regret at all.”
