A man has been arrested for the attempted murder of a pregnant woman.
Daniel Mihai Popescu, of no fixed abode, has previously pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Andreea Pintili in Aberfan, Merthyr Tydfil, last December.
Ms Pintilii was 37 weeks pregnant at the time of the attack.
The 29-year-old also pleaded guilty to stalking Ms Pintili between October 25 and December 6, 2023.
He was sentenced to 17 years and four months in prison and a further three years on license as part of an extended sentence.
He denied a further charge of intimidating a witness.
Aberfan, Wales
Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard on Wednesday afternoon that the defendant had been in a relationship with Andreea Pintili since around September 2020.
The prosecution said Popescu then developed a “gambling habit” and the couple separated around August 2023.
Prosecuting, John Hipkin said the defendant had been “obsessed” with Ms Pintili in the months before the attack.
In one incident, on October 31, the defendant “left two bags of her clothes outside her address”.
“He left her a voicemail saying, ‘Don’t touch my clothes, I’m not leaving the street until you come back with me,’” Hipkin said.
“He then repeatedly knocked on her window. As a result of this, the defendant was arrested and released on bail on the condition that he not contact Andreea Pintili.”
Victim ‘tried to free himself’
Ms Pintili then moved to the Aberfan area, but the defendant found out.
At the time, the defendant was staying with a man named Stephen Phillips.
The prosecution said they noticed the defendant became “agitated and angry over a period of time” and told him he was “going to stab his ex-girlfriend’s new partner.”
“On December 5, the defendant traveled to Moy Road, Aberfan, where Andreea Pintili was living at the time,” Hipkin added.
“The defendant armed himself with a knife from the address where he was staying. The knife had a seven to four inch blade.”
The scene on Moy Road on December 5th
Local schools and daycare centers were placed under precautionary lockdown for several hours when he attacked Ms. Pintili on December 5, 2023.
Southern Officers Wales Police were called shortly before 9.10am to reports a woman had been stabbed in Moy Road.
Ms Pintili suffered three superficial wounds to her thumb and two penetrating wounds to her back.
Tests revealed that her unborn child’s signs of life were normal and she was discharged from the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff the following day.
The court was shown two images, a 19-second clip that appeared to show the defendant crouched behind a vehicle with a knife in his hand, and another that showed the attack itself.
“The defendant told her he had a knife and was going to kill her,” Hipkin told the court.
“She tried to free herself but fell to the ground. The defendant then stabbed her multiple times.
“Perhaps fortunately, a woman named Kira Terrett was walking her dog nearby. She screamed and ran to try to help and with that the defendant fled.”
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‘He wouldn’t stop until he killed me’
In a victim statement read in court on her behalf, Ms Pintili said she felt “lucky to be alive after this harrowing experience”.
“I have no doubt that if he had taken me into the house he would have killed me. That was clearly his intention that day, to kill me and my unborn child,” she added.
“He was very jealous and couldn’t deal with the fact that we had broken up and I had no intention of getting back together with him. He would stop at nothing to kill me.”
She said the attack made her “very anxious about leaving the house” and that she had to “relive that day over and over again.”
In mitigation, Mr David Aubrey KC said the defendant pleaded guilty and “withdrew the attack”.
Aubrey also told the court the defendant suffers from “low mood and anxiety”.
“He expressed his remorse and regret, which is genuine,” he added.
But while mitigating, Aubrey said he did not seek to “minimize the terror the victim felt at the time of the attack.”
Sentencing Popescu, Judge Lloyd-Clarke said the defendant felt “very little true remorse”.
“In my opinion, the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors,” he added.
He was prevented from contacting Mrs Pintili or any of her children and was banned from entering Merthyr Tydfil.
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