A man who carried out two sex attacks in a Dundee nightclub spent seven months on the run — after fleeing to his native Romania.
Marius Ropota, 34, sexually assaulted two teenagers in January last year at Liquid nightclub.
He was due to go on trial for the offences on December 8 last year, having denied them at Dundee Sheriff Court.
But after a warrant for his arrest was granted, police discovered he had left the country the previous night.
He was only traced in Romania on July 8 this year and extradited back to Scotland.
Ropota, a prisoner at Perth, has been remanded since that time and has now pleaded guilty to the attacks.
He has been served with deportation paperwork by the Home Office.
Fiscal depute Vicki Bell told the court the teenagers are friends and neither one of them knows Ropota, who formerly lived at Mossgiel Crescent in the Linlathen area of Dundee.
The fiscal said: “The complainers left the dance floor to go to the smoking area.
“As they walked up a set of stairs the first complainer heard someone running up the stairs behind her and just as she turned to see who it was, the accused reached and touched her. He also attempted to pull her clothing.”
The court heard that the teenager immediately pulled back and Ropota said: “Why not?” then attempted to kiss her.
His victim pushed him back and Ropota made a one-fingered hand gesture at her. Ropota then turned and sexually assaulted the teenager’s friend.
The fiscal told the court that Ropota touched the girl’s clothing and “she let out a scream”.
Ms Bell added: “Again the accused made the same one-finger hand gesture to this complainer then headed back down the stairs.”
The girls told a member of staff what had happened.
Police were contacted and CCTV was reviewed. Sentence was deferred until October 18 for reports.
A spokeswoman for Liquid said: “We would like to reassure people that this was an isolated incident and the safety of our customers is our main priority.
“As soon as the assault was brought to our attention, we did everything possible to look after our customers and bring the perpetrator to justice.”
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