‘You beat me to the point that I can’t believe I am alive. I thought I was going to die that night’
Stefan Marin was convicted of child destruction, grievous bodily harm with intent, non-fatal strangulation, false imprisonment, and perverting the course of justice by a jury at Hull Crown Court(Image: Humberside Police)
The young woman who lost her unborn baby boy after she was sadistically attacked by her violent boyfriend has told a court: “I thought I was going to die that night.” She had been “looking forward to being a mum” but she had to plan his funeral and felt that she was lucky still to be alive.
Stefan Marin brutally punched, kicked and strangled the 17-year-old girl during a sadistic five-hour ordeal for her on his own birthday, leaving her with a broken nose and other serious injuries. He deliberately targeted her stomach despite her desperate attempts to protect her unborn baby.
Scans at hospital later revealed that her previously healthy unborn baby of 29 weeks had died, Hull Crown Court heard. Marin, 19, of New George Street, Hull, but in custody on remand, denied an offence of child destruction on March 13 last year, involving assaulting the mother of an unborn child, with intent to destroy the life of a baby capable of being born alive, causing it to die before it could live independently of its mother. He was convicted by a jury after a 10-day trial held between October 6 and 17.
Marin also denied offences of causing grievous bodily harm to the girl with intent, intentional strangulation, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice by cleaning a crime scene and disposing of evidence, but he was also convicted of those. He admitted possessing three bags of cannabis at his home when he was arrested.
Marin was locked up for 16 years after being branded a dangerous offender. He will be on extended licence of four years after his release from custody and he was given an indefinite restraining order.
The young victim, now 18, told the court in a statement that she read out that she had previously been a “loud, happy and very bubbly girl” before the attack and she had been “looking forward to being a mum”.
She told Marin: “Now my whole life has changed because of you. Every day, I have to see the scars on my body from where you assaulted me and it’s a constant reminder to me of what happened.”
She still suffered pain in her hand, arms and leg, had problems with her memory and her nose and face now looked different. She bit through her lips during the attack and she was scalded as part of it.
“You beat me to the point that I can’t believe I am alive,” she said. “I thought I was going to die that night.” Her “unborn, defenceless son” had done nothing to Marin.
“I begged you: ‘Please don’t hurt my son’. I will never forget when I was begging you for his life,” she said. “It makes me sick even looking at you. You haven’t got anything to be proud of. You haven’t achieved anything.
“I have grown up fast because of what you did to me. What you have done could have destroyed my life but I will not allow it.”
Her unborn baby never had the chance to live a life because Marin took that from him. She truly thought that he was going to kill her. She would never forget begging for her life and the pain she was in, which was so bad that she thought that she would take her “last breath” that night.
“I relive this over and over again,” she said. “I was a 17-year-old and had to plan my own son’s funeral. I didn’t get to watch him growing up or have a life.
“I didn’t get to hear his first cry. You have taken an innocent life. He didn’t deserve that and neither did I. You killed my son and tried to kill me. I am grateful to still be here.
“I will live my life for my son as he will always be in my heart and he will always be watching over me. I hope you sit in prison for a long time and those years will be miserable.”
High Court judge Mr Justice Goss said that it was a “prolonged episode lasting for about five hours” in which Marin repeatedly assaulted the teenager “very seriously”. He “booted” her in the back of her head and punched and kicked her.
She covered her stomach with her hands but Marin moved them and punched her there. “She thought she was going to die,” said Mr Justice Goss.
Marin filled a bath with hot water and pushed her head down into it. She later thought that she was going to die and kept blacking out. She eventually collapsed in the street before her grandmother arrived to collect her and took her to hospital.
The baby died in the young mother’s womb because of trauma to the placenta and he was tragically born dead a few days later when labour was induced. Marin had been drinking with his friends on his 19th birthday and he had taken cannabis. There was “inherent cruelty” in his behaviour.
Marin had previous convictions as a youth for assault causing actual bodily harm, assault, assaulting a police officer as an emergency worker and possessing cannabis in April 2022, criminal damage in July 2022 and assault and criminal damage in January 2023, all when he was aged 16. He had a conviction in June 2024 for assault when he was aged 18.
Marin had a Romanian-speaking interpreter with him in the secure dock. During the original trial, High Court judge Mr Justice Goss agreed to allow the relationship at the time between Marin and the 17-year-old girl to be reported by the Press and media. This followed consideration by him of an application to vary the reporting restrictions.
The judge made a court order to confirm that the reporting of this aspect of the case would be permitted. The order was confirmed on the day of sentence.