A domestic abuser who took money from his wife and assaulted her has been branded a “misogynistic bully”.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank made the comments as he jailed Abdul Malik and ordered him not to contact the woman for five years.
Malik, 55, had previously admitted engaging in a course of behaviour that was abusive of his partner or ex-partner between May 15 and December 13 of 2021.
At that calling of the case, fiscal depute Pauline Gair told the court that the offending began after Malik sponsored his wife to come to the UK from Bangladesh in 2021.
Husband’s ‘behaviour changed’ after move to Inverness
She said: “Following their move to Scotland, the accused’s behaviour towards the complainer changed.
“She began working in July 2021 and the accused took money from her bank account without her authorising this, leaving her short of money.”
The court was told that on one occasion Malik repeatedly shouted abuse at the woman before striking her body, on another he struck her following an argument outside their workplace.
Malik also phoned his wife as she was travelling to work on a bus and threatened violence.
Following this incident Malik’s wife told colleagues what was happening and police were contacted.
Solicitor advocate Shahid Latif, defending Malik, said his client had spent around £10,000 on his wife’s move to the UK, and “part of the difficulty was trying to pay that money back”.
He said Malik had helped the woman to get a job, register with a GP practice and get a bank account but that, following her arrival in the country, the relationship had “fractured”.
“Your lordship has heard the outcome of that fracture,” Mr Latif added.
Speaking at the sentencing hearing Mr Latif reiterated that it was the pressure of the debt that had caused issues in the relationship.
He conceded that his client had taken money from the woman and gambled with it but told Sheriff Ian Cruickshank that this was because “he rather naïvely thought that he could make some money, and that would help towards the cost”.
Abdul Malik’s ‘bully’ behaviour ‘utterly unacceptable’
Addressing Malik’s offences he said: “He accepts this morning that this was utterly unacceptable.”
But Sheriff Cruickshank referred to passages in the presentencing report, which indicated Malik did not think that the offence was serious and blamed his victim for the situation.
“He apportions blame to his wife, considering that she has bought him bad luck,” the sheriff said.
Speaking directly to Malik, Sheriff Cruickshank said: “These are the comments of a misogynistic bully.
“You appear to hold the belief that you have not committed a serious offence. Let me disabuse you of that notion.
“Over a six-month period, you coerced and controlled your wife, just because you could, and that is not acceptable.”
He jailed Malik, of Rosehaugh Road, Inverness, for 12 months and imposed a non-harassment order preventing him from approaching or contacting the woman for five years.
