A man who tried to falsely imprison a woman and her child has been sentenced.
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A man who tried to falsely imprison a woman and her child in a Colchester car park has been sentenced to a total of four years in prison.
At around 3pm on 11 September 2019, 57-year-old Neil Diaz approached the victim, who is in her 20s, whilst she was putting her shopping away in the Asda car park on Turner Rise.
With her young son in the back of the car, Diaz was armed with a knife and ordered the victim to get into her passenger seat.
Thankfully, she screamed to raise the alarm, and Diaz made off on foot.
He was arrested at Marks Tey train station later that afternoon.
When officers recovered his car from Colchester’s train station car park, they found a claw hammer and another knife in a plastic bag.
Diaz, who lives on Roosevelt Way, had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted false imprisonment, one count of possession of a knife and one count of Threatening someone with a knife when he appeared at Ipswich Crown Court on Friday 24 January.
He was sentenced at the same court today, Monday 24 August.
In an emotional statement read out to the court, the victim described her feelings during the incident, saying: “I’m a single mum and keep thinking what would happen to my kids if I was stabbed.”
Investigating officer, PC Rosanna Walker of Colchester CID said: “Diaz was in a very low place on the day of the incident, but I want to be clear that this in no way excuses his abhorrent actions.
“When interviewed, he stated that he said he felt that he had been ‘treated so badly by women’ that he ‘decided he was going to scare a woman’ on that day. These cowardly choices led to him targeting a young woman, who was just going about her daily business. To this day, she is still reeling from the events of that afternoon.”
“She has shown immense dignity and strength throughout the course of this investigation, and I am pleased that Diaz spared her the indignity of a trial. I hope that, with her attacker behind bars, she can start to rebuild a life for her and her children.”