Man committed “very serious bodily harm” after demanding reimbursement from prostitute

A homeless man was attacked after his prostitute friend’s customer demanded a refund. The victim had been sitting on the ground outside the Shell petrol station on Narborough Road in Leicester while his girlfriend worked nearby.

According to the victim, he heard his girlfriend screaming from across the street and then saw Istvan Nemeth, 50, chasing the woman, so he went in to intervene. He told Leicestershire Police his girlfriend told him Nemeth had tried to rape her and when he approached Nemeth he demanded his money back.

Prosecutor Sukhy Basi told Leicester Magistrates Court on Thursday (October 10): “In the middle of Narborough Road the victim was attacked by the defendant. He was punched, kicked and stomped on.” A witness had called the police and officers arrived in time to arrest Nemeth at the scene.

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The victim’s injuries were presented to the judge. They also heard a very different version of events from Nemeth, who pleaded guilty to assault at the hearing.

In his version, Nemeth, of Beaconsfield Road, West End, Leicester, claimed he tried to offer the couple money to buy food and then, after the woman grabbed the money and fled, he decided to beat up her boyfriend .

Mr Basi said: “The defendant told police the woman came up to him and said: ‘Do you want sex?’ He said no several times and said he would never pay for sex because he had a nice girlfriend.”

“He said he then walked away from the man and woman and they followed him. He thought they were homeless so he wanted to give them money to buy food.”

“So he held out two £20 notes and the money was grabbed by the woman who started to run away. The defendant then chased the man – believing it wasn’t right to chase the woman – and when he caught up with him he said the man hit him a few times.

Police later showed Nemeth video footage of the attack and he confirmed that he was seen attacking the man in the middle of the street.

Nemeth, who appeared in court with a Hungarian translator, had also admitted drinking six or seven bottles of Corona beer and half a bottle of brandy before the attack, which took place at around 10.45pm on Sunday, August 11.

Rachel Gaffney, representing Nemeth, said: “The defendant is remorseful and fully accepts that the situation was mishandled.” She said her client had no previous convictions and worked shifts in a printing company. She added that he was prepared to do unpaid work as punishment for the attack rather than serve an immediate prison sentence.

The chairman of the jury, Dr. Phillip Russell, described it as a “very serious attack” and sentenced Nemeth to a 24-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months. Nemeth was also ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work and pay £85 court costs and a victim surcharge of £154.