Andreea Pintili was attacked by Daniel Popescu (Picture: Wales News Service)
A man has been jailed for 17 years for attempted murder after stabbing a heavily pregnant woman in the street.
Daniel Mihai Popescu attacked Andreea Pintili in Aberfan, South Wales, last December 5.
Andreea, 29, was hospitalised following the attack and local schools were ordered to lock down in response to the stabbing, which was described by police as ‘targeted’.
She was 37 weeks pregnant at the time.
Popescu, aged 29 and of no fixed address, previously pleaded guilty to attempted murder.
He also admitted stalking Andreea between October 25 and December 6 of last year.
Andreea was 37 weeks pregnant at the time of the attack (Picture: Wales News Service)
Popescu has been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison (Picture: Wales News Service)
He has now been sentenced to 17 years and four months in prison with a further three years on licence.
He had denied a charge of intimidating a witness.
Merthyr Tydfil crown court heard that Popescu had been in a relationship with the victim since September 2020, but the pair split in August 2023 after he developed a ‘gambling habit’.
Prosecuting, John Hipkin said the defendant had become ‘obsessed’ with Andreea in the months before the attack, leaving bags of his clothing outside her home and repeatedly knocking on her windows.
After this he was arrested and bailed with a condition not to contact her, and Andreea moved house – but Popescu found out where she’d moved to.
He said he was ‘going to stab his ex-girlfriend’s new partner’ and went to her home carrying a knife with a seven- to eight-inch blade.
Andreea sustained three superficial injuries to her thumb and two penetrating wounds to her back.
Local schools were locked down after the stabbing (Picture: Wales News Service)
Mr Hipkin told the court: ‘The defendant told her that he had a knife and was going to kill her.
‘She tried to break free but fell to the floor. The defendant then proceeded to stab her a number of times.
‘Perhaps fortunately a woman named Kira Terrett was walking her dog nearby. She screamed and ran to try and help and with that the defendant then ran off.’
Scans revealed that her child’s signs were normal and she was discharged from hospital the next day day.
In a statement read to the court, Andreea said she felt ‘lucky to be alive after this harrowing experience’.
She added: ‘I have no doubt that, had he got me into the house, he would have killed me. This was clearly his intention that day, to kill me and my unborn child.
‘He was very jealous and couldn’t handle the fact we’d split up and I had not intention of ever getting back with him. He wasn’t going to stop until he killed me.’
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David Aubrey KC, defending, said Popescu had entered a guilty plea and ‘desisted from the attack’ and said he has ‘expressed his remorse and regret, which is genuine’.
But during sentencing, Judge Lloyd-Clarke said the defendant felt ‘very little true remorse’, adding: ‘In my judgement, the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors.’
Popescu has also been banned from contacting Andreea or any of her children, and has been forbidden from entering Merthyr Tydfil.
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