October 01, 2009

A 28-YEAR-old Accrington man punched his wife as she was feeding their baby and then hit her repeatedly with his shoe.

Hyndburn magistrates heard that Mohammed Zeheer later went to strike his wife again, but she had called her sister who put herself between the two of them.

Zeheer, of Exchange Street, pleaded guilty to assaulting Hamida Akhter Rehman.

He was made subject to community supervision for six months and ordered to pay £50 compensation and £85 costs.

A charge of assaulting his sister-in-law, Haleema Mahmood, was dismissed after the prosecution offered no evidence.

Philippa White, prosecuting, said the couple had been discussing problems he was having with his family in Pakistan and the discussion descended into an argument.

"He was telling her she could not go to her sister’s home again and made threats towards her sister’s children if they were to set foot in his house," said Mrs White. "He threatened to hit her and told her if she didn’t shut up that was what he would do."

As he struck his wife with a shoe, he made sexual comments about what he was going to do to her mother.

Gareth Price, defending, said there had been traumas in the wider family recently which had lead to tension.

"It is particularly unfortunate the children have witnessed their parents falling out in this manner," said Mr Price.