Clubgoer who lay in wait and sexually assaulted woman jailed

Ardzis Cicis ‘lay in wait’ for his victim after spotting her in a nightclub and made repeated unwanted advances towards her.

The 23-year-old also forcibly pushed her up against a wall and made sexualised comments towards her before she was able to escape.

Cicis attended Liverpool Crown Court on Monday to be sentenced on a charge of sexual assault, appearing via videolink from HMP Liverpool and assisted by a Latvian interpreter.

Paul Blasbery, prosecuting, explained how the victim was on a night out with a friend in Warrington town centre on October 14 when she left a nightclub at around 2am, rang her boyfriend and told him she was looking for a taxi.

As she was walking down an alleyway near Barbauld Street, she felt someone grab her shoulder from behind.

She turned around and saw it was the defendant, who told her how he wanted to perform a sex act on her, to which she replied ‘no, I have a boyfriend’.

The situation made her feel uncomfortable and she tried to walk away, but he grabbed her arm. She told him to get off her but he would not let go, asking her to ‘come here, come on’, but she again told him no as she had a boyfriend, who was still on the phone at the time.

Ardzis Cicis on CCTV at the time of the attack

The boyfriend said he heard him say ‘I have a girlfriend, but you should come back to mine’, after which she told him to ‘get your hand off my leg, I have a boyfriend’.

After realising he was not going to take no for an answer, she panicked and managed to run away to a nearby taxi rank.

The call with her boyfriend ended while she was running, but she phoned him back and said that she thought she had lost the man.

But as she turned around, she again saw the defendant right behind her, who tried to grab her. She screamed and ran towards the taxi rank, where she told two men that the defendant had been following her.

CCTV footage of the incident was played in court, showing the defendant following the woman as she staggered across a road and forcibly pushing her against a wall twice.

Mr Blasbery revealed to the court that Cicis has two previous convictions for six offences, mainly for driving offences.

Carmel Wilde, defending, said that the best mitigation she could highlight was her client’s guilty plea.

“His behaviour does seem very much out of character looking at his limited previous convictions,” she said, also advancing his ‘very good work ethic’.

“It is clear he holds distorted and unhealthy sexual attitudes towards women,” she added.

Ardzis Cicis was jailed at Liverpool Crown Court

“Although the most inevitable sentence is immediate custody, this is a man who is crying out for probation intervention for such attitudes towards women to be addressed to prevent future offending.”

But Ms Wilde’s appeal for the sentence to be suspended was dismissed by recorder Tania Griffiths, who said: “This was a very serious and disturbing offence.

“In my judgement, having seen her in the nightclub, you followed her out and lay in wait for her in order to sexually assault her.

“It failed because the public came to her aid, and who knows where it would have ended.

“There was a significant element of planning as you selected her as your victim and intended to attack her when she left the club.”

She added: “I agree that you have concerning attitudes towards women and that this needs to be addressed, but it is too dangerous and too much of a risk for that to happen in the community.

“In my judgement, this case calls for immediate custody, and significant time at that.”

Cicis, of Suez Street in the town centre, was sentenced to 34 months in prison and ordered to sign the sex offenders register indefinitely.