A man has admitted stalking and attempting to murder a pregnant woman in Aberfan, south Wales.
Daniel Mihai Popescu, 29, harassed Andreea Pintili by following her, filming her and uploading the footage on TikTok, and repeatedly calling her from withheld numbers.
On 5 December last year Popescu, a factory and car wash worker, stabbed Pintili near her home. Pintili was hospitalised and local schools were locked down while armed police searched for Popescu.
Popescu, of no fixed address, admitted attempted murder and stalking at Cardiff crown court. He will be sentenced on 28 May. He denied intimidating a witness, and the Crown Prosecution Service said it would not seek a trial on this charge.
Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke told Popescu he would be jailed, and ordered a pre-sentence report to help her assess how dangerous he is. He was remanded in custody.
Pintili, who worked in a shop, had moved to a new house in the former pit village a few weeks before the attack. She was taken by ambulance to hospital after the incident at about 9.10am on 5 December. At 3.30pm, armed police arrived at a street in the nearby village of Troedyrhiw. Neighbours said one man was taken away from a terrace house by the police.
South Wales police said on 6 December that the woman had been discharged from hospital but did not give any information about her injuries or any other medical details.
Witnesses to the attack described how neighbours went to help the woman. Katie Roberts, a veterinary nurse, said: “I was at home when I heard screaming and thought it was kids messing about. But I looked out of the window and saw a man with a large knife in his hand standing over a woman on the road outside.”
Roberts said the woman was still conscious but bleeding quite badly from several stab wounds. She said: “I heard her saying: ‘He tried to kill me.’ She was very brave and worried about her baby. It was shocking. Another neighbour dialled 999 and the police were here quickly.”
The attack happened close to the scene of the 1966 Aberfan disaster, in which 116 children and 28 adults were killed when a colliery tip collapsed on to the village school.
