A wealthy Russian former MMA fighter has been sentenced to four years in prison following a violent, jealousy-fueled rampage in a London apartment, an attack that was interrupted by an unlikely witness: Barron Trump.
Matvei Rumiantsev, 22, the son of a prominent Russian coffee tycoon, was sentenced Friday at Snaresbrook Crown Court, concluding a high-profile case centered on a brutal, hour-long attack during which the victim feared she “might die.”
Prosecutors said Rumiantsev flew into a “jealous rage” in January last year after discovering the victim’s friendship with President Donald Trump’s youngest son. The violence escalated when Rumiantsev answered a FaceTime call from Barron on the woman’s phone.
During the call, Rumiantsev showed Barron the woman’s face before grabbing her by the hair, throwing her to the floor, and kicking her in the stomach while calling her a “slut” and a “whore,” according to court testimony.
Despite being thousands of miles away in Florida at the time, Barron Trump, then 18, spent several minutes trying to figure out how to contact British emergency services. In a recorded 999 call played for the jury, he told operators: “I just got a call from a girl … she’s getting beat up. It’s really an emergency, please.”
The victim later testified that Barron Trump “helped save my life. That call was like a sign from God at that moment.”
In sentencing, the judge delivered a stinging rebuke of Rumiantsev’s character, describing him as “given to jealousy” and possessing a volatile temper. The judge also criticized Rumiantsev for being “totally unrepentant,” continuing to blame the victim and refusing to take responsibility.
“Your lack of insight and empathy was apparent at trial,” the judge said.
Rumiantsev was sentenced for actual bodily harm and perverting the course of justice. The latter charge stemmed from what the court described as “repeated efforts” to subvert the legal process. After his arrest, he used a police station phone to pressure the victim and later wrote to her from Belmarsh prison, convincing her to briefly withdraw her statement before she eventually retracted the withdrawal.
Rumiantsev, who attended an elite £80,000-a-year boarding school in Cambridge, was cleared of charges of rape and strangulation. However, the judge noted the severity of the sustained physical attack.
The legal consequences for the Russian national may extend beyond his prison term; Justice Bennathan warned Rumiantsev that he now faces the possibility of deportation from the United Kingdom following the completion of his sentence.
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