A mentally ill man kicked, stabbed and slashed his lover to death in a “merciless” attack after her husband discovered their relationship.
David Cheres, 21, set about 43-year-old Tiprat Argatu with a knife and scissors at her home in Whitechapel, in the early hours of January 24 last year.
He then hid naked in a nearby bin store before he was arrested by police.
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Cheres, of Ellen Street, Whitechapel, had admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility but denied murder.
A jury deliberated for five and a half hours to clear him of murder on December 5 following a trial at the Old Bailey.
Prosecutor James Dawes KC had previously described how Cheres had battered and kicked the victim to death in a “savage and prolonged attack” in her bedroom over about 50 minutes.
He kicked her with his shod foot, and slashed and stabbed her head and neck with a kitchen knife and a pair of long scissors, which were bent in half in the onslaught.
The victim was unarmed and offered little resistance.
Mr Dawes said: “Tiprat appears to have held up her hands in order to try to defend herself because some of the stab and slash wounds were on her hands and fingers.
“You may conclude that this attack took time, took effort and it was relentless and merciless.”
A pathologist concluded the cause of death was severe blunt impact trauma to the head and neck.
Police called to the scene found Cheres walking naked outside shivering with cold and with cuts and scratches on his body.
Asked where he had come from, he indicated a bin cupboard with a duvet and pillow inside.
After being arrested at the scene, Cheres told an officer: “I’m sorry for what I did.”
Mr Dawes suggested the killing was connected with the defendant’s feelings about “the way his life was going” and the loss of his friendship with the victim’s husband.
Cheres had been friends with Mrs Argatu’s spouse, who had discovered he was having sex with her just hours earlier, the court heard.
The court heard that the victim was originally from Thailand and her husband was Romanian, and the attack took place at a flat in Ellen Street, Whitechapel.
Cheres was remanded into custody to be sentenced on February 1 next year.
Reporting by PA.
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