Dad beat wife for asking him to clean up after their sick daughter

A Derby dad assaulted his wife - the mother of his three children - after he refused to help clean up when one of them had been sick.

Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court heard how Asif Mughal told the victim "it's not my job" before grabbing, pushing and slapping her at the Allenton home they then shared.

The terrified woman, his partner of 12 years, finally got out of the room when their young daughter opened the door.

She fled to a nearby supermarket to ask staff there to raise the alarm.

And the 39-year-old defendant took the case to trial and still does not think he has done anything wrong despite being found guilty of assault.

Handing him a 26-week jail sentence, suspended for a year, District Judge Jonathan Taaffe said: "This is domestic abuse at its worst. This is a situation where I am asked to accept it was an isolated incident, a one-off.

"Domestic abuse is very rarely a one-off. It must have taken your wife considerable courage to come forward and report this to the police and go through with the prosecution.

"Why? Because she's the mother of your three children and she has been economically dependant on you.

"She is to be commended that she took the view that when she asked you to assist in cleaning up the vomit of one of your children and you refused she decided enough is enough.

"It was a prolonged incident, she must have been terrified, but she eventually managed to get free and summon help at a supermarket.

"On top of that your children were present and you do not accept you have done anything wrong."

Pardeep Kalyan, prosecuting, said Mughal and the victim had been together 12 years and have three children together aged 10, six and three.

He said after initially living in the Birmingham area, they moved to Derby.

The prosecutor said on the night of the assault the victim was in a bedroom with their middle child who was ill and who had thrown up on the carpet and bed and that his wife asked the defendant to help her clear it up.

Mr Kalyan said: "His reply was that is was not his job and she would have to sort it out. He grabbed her by the shoulder and pushed her against a wardrobe shouting 'get out of the room'.

"He grabbed and pushed her again slapping one of her cheeks and tried to close the door so the children would not see.

"He then twisted her arms around her back and she said that left her scared and he then put his hands over her mouth to stop her from screaming, she said she was unable to breathe.

"She said the daughter opened the door and that's when he let her go.

"She ran out of the house and went to Aldi and asked the staff there to call the police.

"The next day she went to A&E for an x-ray but there were no breaks or fractures although she was still feeling pain one-and-a-half months later."

In a victim impact statement, the wife said she "wanted her family to work as we have three children together", but "felt very low as I can't stop thinking about what happened between us".

Mughal, formerly of Bemrose Road and who this week gave an address of Statham Drive, Rotton Park, Birmingham, denied one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

But, following a trial at the same court, he was found guilty of the offence.

Jacqueline Macduff, mitigating, said her client has no prior convictions.

She said: "His father is in his 90s and his mother is in her late 70s with severe mobility issues and he acts as a carer to them.

"As a result of this conviction he has lost his previous good character."

As part of the suspended sentence order, Judge Taaffe ordered Mughal to carry out 150 hours unpaid work, to pay £620 prosecution costs and a £154 victim surcharge.

He also handed him a three-year restraining order not to contact his wife or go to her Allenton address.