Daniel Lee-Phakoe will be sentenced at Inner London Crown Court at a later date
A former Newham Labour councillor groped a woman’s bottom ‘at least 10 times’, trapping her in the toilet and demanding sex while his wife drank next-door. Daniel Lee-Phakoe, 38, of Libra Road in Newham, was found guilty of one count of sexual assault by touching by a jury at Inner London Crown Court this week after attacking the woman at a pub near Liverpool Street station.
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the sex attack left her feeling ‘dirty, disrespected, and worthless’, and described Lee-Phakoe as a ‘sexual predator’ whose approach was ‘violating, aggressive and manipulative’. A friend of the victim who witnessed Lee-Phakoe’s behaviour said she had ‘never seen her [friend] so frightened’.
Lee-Phakoe was meant to be celebrating his wife’s departmental move within the council at the pub in May 2023, but instead made a series of ‘persistent and unwelcome’ verbal sexual approaches to the victim, asking the woman for a sexual encounter in the bathroom. The former Plaistow North councillor then stood next to the woman and repeatedly pinched her bottom.
The victim – who claims Lee-Phakoe grabbed her ‘at least 10 times’ with a ‘firm and unrelenting’ grip – said: “The assault itself has left me feeling dirty, disrespected and a worthless woman who had suddenly become the focus of unwanted and disgusting sexual touching, demands for sex in a public toilet and being physically trapped in spite of attempts to move.
“His approach was both violating, aggressive and manipulative in assaulting me in a public place with his wife in the same bar and only a short distance away. This has been a horrendous experience.
“This sexual assault was unforgivable and I made the complaint to stop this happening to other women and to stand up to a sexual predator who has no idea or care of the impact of what he did to me.”
‘I’ve never seen her so frightened’
When Lee-Phakoe left the table, the victim asked her friend to stand next to her and protect her. Undeterred, Lee-Phakoe returned and tried to push pass the friend to get to the victim, persistently asking the victim to go to the toilets with him.
The friend said: “He arrived at the table again and continued to push against me and comments towards the victim for 10 minutes or so. I said to him ‘can you please stop and calm down.’ He stopped pushing but continued to ask her to go toilets with him.
“After what seemed like an exceptionally long time, he finally left the table and the victim asked me to leave with her as she felt unsafe leaving on her own. I’ve known her many years and I’ve never seen her so frightened.”
What happened to his seat?
Lee-Phakoe resigned from his Plaistow North seat on October 17 2023, citing ‘personal reasons’ in a post made on Newham Labour’s website, while his wife has also since resigned from her position at the council.
Lee-Phakoe’s resignation of the seat, which he held since 2018, triggered a by-election won by Sophia Naqvi for Newham Independents on November 23 2023. Cllr Naqvi beat Labour’s candidate by more than 500 votes, having left the party only a few weeks earlier due to Keir Starmer’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Lee-Phakoe will be sentenced at a later date.
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