DEWSBURY

A taxi driver has been jailed for a total of three years after he assaulted his wife – and then tried to get her to drop her complaint.

Leeds Crown Court heard the victim Touqueer Un-Nisa Butt described her husband Raheel Akhtar Butt as ‘very controlling’ over family finances.

On July 21 last year they argued about money and he slapped her twice then threatened her with a kitchen knife.

Bashir Ahmed, prosecuting, told the court Butt, 42, only put the knife down when their nine-year-old son told him to “stop it.”

But he then picked up an object like a remote control and struck his wife twice on the head with it causing her forehead to bleed from a 3cm cut. She eventually managed to ring the police and when they arrived Butt just said: “We had a fight.”

Butt was bailed with a condition not to go to the matrimonial home or contact his wife but “that fell on deaf ears,” Mr Ahmed told the court.

On November 1 he called her several times during the day wanting her to meet him but she refused and turned off her phone. When she later turned it back on she found several missed calls from him and when she rang him to say he should not contact her he said he wanted her to drop the charges.

Mr Ahmed said the matter did not end there because Butt then turned up at the house in Ravens Avenue, Dewsbury, and she reluctantly let him in.

He called her foolish, blamed her and said her parents would get to know and he would stop her seeing them. She recorded some of his threats including that he would “split her head in two.”

When he was arrested again he denied being in contact with his wife.

Christopher Dunn, representing Butt, said the two incidents had only happened when feelings were running high “and he was not able to control himself.”

He deeply regretted what had happened and was now likely to lose his taxi licence.

Butt was jailed for two years after he admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and a further 12 months consecutive for witness intimidation.

Judge Tom Bayliss QC described the offence as “appalling.”

http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/dewsbury-taxi-driver-raheel-akhtar-10786240?

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Two men have been arrested following an assault in Leigh.

A 24-year-old man was standing at the taxi rank on Railway Road at around 4.30am on September 11, when he was approached by a man who punched him in the face.

The man tried to defend himself, shielding his face with his hand, but a second man approached him and joined in the attack.

The victim tried to get away, but a third man walked up to him and punched him in the ribs.

The man suffered a dislocated finger and injuries to his face.

Two 20-year-old men have been arrested on suspicion of section 47 assault and have been bailed until the end of February pending further enquiries.

A 19-year-old man - who was arrested previously on suspicion of a section 47 assault in connection with the assault - has been bailed until March 29.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/two-arrested-man-attacked-leigh-10787185?