A jail term has been imposed on a man who attacked two women in Canterbury before setting light to a shed where a man was living.
James Gichigi admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm, sexual assault and assaulting an emergency worker in relation to an incident in the city centre on 22 April 2019.
The 54-year-old also admitted arson in relation to an incident in the Thanington area on 25 April 2020. He was jailed for four years and seven months at Canterbury Crown Court on 2 July 2021.
The first offences happened in St George’s Street, Canterbury when Gichigi approached two women who were not known to him. He grabbed one of the women and kissed her on the forehead before she pushed him away.
Gichigi then put his arms around the second woman and bit her on the cheek. He shouted abuse at the two women before one of them called the police.
Officers arrived at the scene and Gichigi kicked one of them in the leg as he was taken into custody.
In April 2020, officers were called to Gichigi’s former home in Cockering Road, Canterbury following a report of a dispute between him and a man who was living in a shed nearby.
Gichigi had told the man he was going to ‘burn him out’ of the shed and poured the contents of a petrol can over its step.
When officers arrived he was standing next to the shed with smoking paper at his feet and a lighter in his hand and he was arrested.
Sergeant Alex Walker, one of Kent Police’s investigating officers, said: ‘This case showed that Gichigi is a danger to those around him and I hope he uses his time in jail to reflect on the harm he has caused.
‘These offences would have been terrifying for the victims and I hope that officers’ timely intervention in both cases, and the resulting prison sentence, gives them a sense that justice has been done.’