Two people jailed for holding vulnerable young man for six hours while draining his bank account
A VULNERABLE student was subjected to “torture” after a night out, and robbed of £6,658 which was spent by his attackers on gambling and drugs, Cardiff Crown Court was told.
Alex Olah, 28, and Kavita Kaur, 35, lured Ioan Jones-Foster back to Kaur’s Grangetown flat when he was drunk and confused, said Ieuan Bennett, prosecuting.
“Mr Olah certainly realised he was a soft target and lined him up for an offence such as getting money from him,” said Mr Bennett.
Mr Jones-Foster arrived at Kaur’s flat in Llys Saltmede, Penarth Road, at 2am on March 10, 2022. For six hours, the 19-year-old believed “he was going to lose his life”, said Mr Bennett.
Olah from Merthyr Road, Whitchurch, stabbed Mr Jones-Foster’s leg with a Stanley knife, slashed his arms with a knife, and slapped him around the face. His leg wound required four stitches.
Mr Bennett said Kaur took a total of £6,658 from the business student’s bank account and spent £6,330 of it that evening.
Kaur told Mr Jones-Foster they could kill him at any time they chose, the court heard.
Mr Jones-Foster was not in court but Mr Bennett read out his victim statement.
It said: “The money they stole from me was left to me by my grandfather, and the attack occurred on the third anniversary of his death.”
Pavel Mirga, 37, from Penarth Road, Grangetown arrived at the flat at 7.53am, where he saw Mr Jones-Foster and also took £140 of his money, said Mr Bennett.
Mr Jones-Foster was released from the flat at 8am without any of his possessions, not even his glasses, and sought treatment at Heath Hospital.
The attack forced him to drop out of university and he has not returned since, said Mr Bennett.
“My whole life has changed immeasurably. I still feel very uncomfortable in cities, especially Cardiff. I am no longer the carefree person I once was,” he said in the statement.
Hywel Davies, defending Olah, said being addicted to and under the influence of drugs was the motivation for the attack.
In a previous statement, first Olah blamed the victim for the events but later expressed remorse.
“This is my fault, what I have done, whatever the sentence, I deserve it,” said the Czech national who pleaded guilty to charges of robbery and grievous bodily harm.
He has five previous convictions for 14 offences, including robbery, possession of knives, and theft.
Sentencing him on Friday, March 14, 2025, Judge Celia Hughes told Olah: “This was a brutal and prolonged robbery of a young man, who you targeted because he was alone drunk, late at night in the city centre.
“You say that you were intoxicated on crystal meth that night, but this happened over several hours and cannot simply be explained by being high on that drug.
“The effect of this incident has been enormous on this young man, who had done nothing wrong. His whole life has changed. He was left with 18 scars, which remind him daily of this awful incident.”
Ms Hughes sentenced Olah to 130 months in prison for robbery and 21 months in prison for grievous bodily harm to be served concurrently.
Olah was also given a surcharge of £228, to be paid two months after his release.
Rebecca Griffiths, defending Kaur, said: “She entirely accepts her responsibility in this offence. She does have remorse and would like to apologise to the victim.”
Ms Griffiths said she had accessed treatment for drug addiction and mental health support while in custody.
Kaur pleaded guilty to a charge of acquiring criminal property of £630. She has three previous convictions for four offences, including shoplifting and common assault in 2023.
Sentencing her, Judge Hughes said: “You were mocking him and enjoyed humiliating him. You must have seen what was going on, but you used the stolen money for your own gain, to buy drugs and to gamble.”
Kaur was sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for 12 months. She was ordered to comply with 25 rehabilitation days and drug rehabilitation and was given a surcharge of £128, to be paid within 12 months.
Marian Lewis, defending Mirga, said: “He is truly sorry for his part that night.”
Ms Lewis told the court that Mirga had broken his addiction to cannabis and had not gambled since that night.
He has also enrolled at Birmingham University, which he attends one day a week, to “turn his life around”, said Ms Lewis.
Mirga pleaded guilty to acquiring criminal property of £124.
Sentencing him, Judge Hughes said: “You saw the victim sitting in the flat, injured and bleeding, but did nothing about it. Instead, you used money stolen by Mr Olah for your own gain to gamble.”
Mirga was sentenced to a 12-month community order with 50 hours of unpaid work. He was ordered to pay a surcharge of £95 within six months.
