February 2008
Child rapist is jailed two decades after assaults
A RAPIST who attacked a young girl in his restaurant more than two decades ago was snared when he was stopped at an airport carrying a fruit knife in his luggage.
Wladimir Dektereff, 74, from Harrogate fled to Portugal and thought he had escaped justice for a shocking rape and 19 indecent assaults he committed on the girls, who at the time were aged between ten and 15.
But after one of his annual flights back to the UK, he was stopped by customs officers at Heathrow Airport in October last year after they found a fruit knife in one of his suitcases.
He was apprehended when they realised his details matched that of a suspect wanted for the offences – which took place between 1982 and 1986.
Although he admitted knowing the girls during questioning, Dektereff, who upon his return was bailed to an address in Harrogate, initially denied his crimes before pleading guilty at a hearing last month.
Prosecuting at York Crown Court yesterday, Simon Kealey told the court how Dektereff had run a restaurant in North Yorkshire and had employed one of the girls as a part-time waitress when she was 13.
Mr Kealey said: “He began flattering and complimenting her, then touching her. This pattern of behaviour continued and he began to kiss her in the restaurant. He also would give her lifts home.”
He added that when the girl was 15, she was waiting for a lift home when Dektereff walked in and the rape took place.
One of the other girls was also employed by the restaurant when she was indecently assaulted whilst alone in a kitchen.
Mr Kealey then revealed that shortly after the offences, Dektereff had moved to Portugal with his partner, but continued to visit North Yorkshire.
It was on one such trip in October last year that he was caught with the fruit knife and his terrible past was uncovered.
Defending, Richard Reid said that Dektereff is currently undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.
He also said that at the time of the offences, he was struggling financially and had a problem with alcohol.
He added: “He has pleaded guilty and spared the victims the ordeal of a trial. He has genuine remorse and regret for his offences and has a low risk of re-offending.”
Sentencing Dektereff to seven years, Judge Stephen Ashurst said: “You have admitted 20 serious sexual offences.
“The passage of time does not make the offence of rape any less serious. You have had many years at liberty to get on with your own life and your three victims have had to cope in their own way.
“One has got on with her life, but the two others have been affected very seriously. It has affected their relationships with adult men.”
He added: “You were in a position of some considerable power and trust over them. What a strong an imposing man you must have been in your 50s when these offences were committed.”
All Dektereff’s victims were in court for the sentencing.
After he was jailed one said: “It’s a relief he has finally gone to prison after all these years. It’s incredible that he was only brought to justice because of a fruit knife.”
