A man whose wife suffered a pregnancy scare the day after he viciously beat her in a row over money refused to take her to hospital until she had made him lunch. Riasaf Ahmed, 25, who would attack Ruqayyah Ghani on the orders of his ‘controlling’ mother, frequently left his wife covered in bruises and in fear of her life. And on Christmas Day 2010, Ahmed, from Middlesbrough, launched an horrific hour-long attack on his pregnant wife, punching her in the face and grabbing her wrists to get her to hand over money as a crisis loan.
The following day he even refused to take Miss Ghani to hospital for treatment for stomach pains unless she made him a meal. She was then led to fear for her life when he told her: ‘If I’ve got to go to jail, I might as well do things properly.’
But he has avoided jail, in a decision that has angered domestic abuse charities. The court was told how Miss Ghani was effectively kept prisoner in the family home in Middlesbrough for four years.
She was not allowed a house key and Ahmed and his family took all of her money away from her.
A lock on the telephone meant she could not contact her family in West Yorkshire. Miss Ghani’s family had taken her back to West Yorkshire in August 2010 after finding her bruised when they became seriously concerned by their daughter’s silence. She had returned to her husband after discovering she was pregnant to try to make the marriage work, but nothing changed. His own defence barrister branded the former call centre worker a bully as a Teesside Crown Court judge handed out a suspended sentence for common assault and an assault causing actual bodily harm.
Judge Tony Briggs said Ahmed’s campaign of brutality and humiliation was disgraceful, but gave Ahmed the suspended jail term after hearing he has a serious medical condition. Jonathan Walker, mitigating, said Ahmed had struggled after losing his job and was suffering from ulcerative colitis.
He said: ‘He is not a teenager, but he is a fairly vulnerable, fairly immature young man who seeks to blame others for his failings.’ Domestic violence campaigners said that Ahmed’s sentence did not reflect the nature of the ‘horrific’ assault. Sandra Horley, chief executive of domestic violence charity Refuge, said: ‘It takes a huge amount of courage to testify against a violent partner or ex-partner. ‘It is crucial that victims feel protected by having the full weight of the law behind them. ‘It is very disappointing that the severity of this horrific assault does not seem to have been reflected in the sentence.’
