Woman followed from nightclub by sex attacker

VICTIM FEARED HE WOULD KILL HER DURING ASSAULT

- By ROB KENNEDY Reporter

A WOMAN feared she would be killed during a terrifying sex attack by a stranger who followed her from a nightclub before pouncing.

The victim was in an intoxicated state as she left the Newcastle city centre club on her own in the early hours of the morning.

Stranger Balasubramaniyan Ravichandran, who had been there with friends and got the woman's phone number, was then seen looking for her outside. She left on her own but he followed her and caught up with her before isolating her at a bus stop and carrying out a sustained sex attack, during which he bit her lip.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that the incident happened in April of this year.

After the club closed around 3am, prosecutor Nicoleta Alistari said: "The Crown say it's obvious the defendant has noticed her outside the club and, perhaps sensing an opportunity due to her level of intoxication, began to follow her as she walked.

“At first he followed her at a distance but eventually he called out to her to attract her attention and a brief conversation followed. He told her he lived in Gateshead and she informed him he was heading in the wrong direction.

"However he said he would walk with her and she recalls him grabbing hold of her tightly by the wrist.