by Keith Hunt

A pervert who carried out a terrifying sex attack on a woman in the street has been jailed for nine-and-a-half years.

Natangwe Nekwaya was told by a judge it was the most horrifying case of attempted rape he had ever experienced.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the 25-year-old Namibian was in the country illegally and would be deported at the end of his sentence.

The victim told at an earlier trial how she was attacked in Chatham near the High Street in the early hours of New Year’s Day. It was captured on CCTV and shown to the jury.

She bravely put up a fight as Nekwaya punched and kicked her and tried to pull off her trousers after he exposed himself.

The woman, who cannot be identified, managed to poke him in the eyes. She pretended she was pregnant and that her waters had broken. She was only saved from further harm by the arrival of police.

Nekwaya, of St Stevens Close, All Saints Gardens, Chatham, denied attempted rape and two charges of assault.

He was convicted of the attempted rape and one assault charge and cleared of the other. He admitted assaulting the woman causing actual bodily harm.

Judge Andrew Patience QC told Nekwaya: "This is the most horrifying attempted rape I have been concerned with in my entire career."

If there was an appeal, he said, judges should see the CCTV film of the attack.

"You treated her worse than anyone can imagine," he continued. "She was only saved from rape by the arrival of police.

"I don’t know how much longer her strength could hold out. You subjected her to humiliation, degradation and cruelty."

Nekwaya was placed on the sex offenders' register for life.