Man [Michael Ayoade] Jailed For Random Assaults

A man who sneaked up on a teenage girl and a female student and punched them unconscious in two chilling random attacks has been jailed for four years.

Michael Ayoade, 35, of Greengate Street, Plaistow, east London, was caught on CCTV staging the motiveless assaults.

Passing sentence at Inner London Crown Court, Judge Roger Chapple said they were "vicious, unprovoked attacks on young, lone females". He said Ayoade posed a threat of causing serious harm to women.

Having viewed CCTV of both the attacks, the judge said: "These images are indeed worth many thousands of words. The footage captures graphically the shocking violence of these attacks.

"In both cases there was but one blow. In the case of (the 16-year-old) it can plainly be seen from the CCTV footage that the force behind the blow was massive. The ferocity of the blow that you struck to her after running up behind her with full force was truly shocking. In both cases the force of the blow was such as to render the victims unconscious albeit mercifully not for long."

The first attack was at Plaistow Tube station on November 20, 2011, when he hit a 5ft 4in university student in the side of the head, leaving her sprawled unconscious in the ticket hall. Daniella Montieth, who was studying political science and international relations, was taken to hospital with a broken tooth.

Shocking CCTV footage of the second attack was released by police in November last year as they appealed for information. The 16-year-old victim was walking near the Black Lion pub in High Street, Plaistow, at around 12.30pm on November 13 when Ayoade jogged up behind her and punched her in the head. She immediately fell to the ground and was left lying unconscious on the pavement, suffering three broken teeth.

Ayoade, who is originally from Nigeria, had followed the 5ft 5ins teenager for around 800 metres before he struck. Prosecutor Joel Smith told the court Ayoade said she had "looked at him in a rude way", and that he could not go through the rest of the day having taken "an insult from a little person like that".

Ayoade had previously admitted two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and one count of possession of cannabis after a bag of the drug was found at his home. He was arrested shortly after the second attack.

On Monday he was sentenced to four years for the attack on the teenager, and 19 months for punching the student, to run concurrently. There was no separate penalty for the cannabis charge

---------Cambridge News/United Kingdom