Greater Manchester - A wealthy Asian businessman slammed his estranged wife’s head against a car and called her a ‘bacon basher’ after she began dating a white man, a court heard.
Accountant Syed Ahmad, 51, grabbed Perveen Ahmad by her Louis Vuitton bag before dragging her to the ground and calling her a ‘black witch’ in the attack outside her gym.
Mrs Ahmad’s new boyfriend, David Wallwork, 54, who used to work at the Ahmads’ lettings agency, stepped in to separate the pair, who had split acrimoniously three years earlier.
Police were called and Ahmad was arrested. Mrs Ahmad, 51, who manages the couple’s student lettings business in Manchester, was treated in hospital for grazing to her arm, elbow and knees following the incident on August 13 last year.
Magistrates in Stockport were told the couple, from Bramhall, Greater Manchester, split when Ahmad ended the marriage on Father’s Day in 2015. They had been married for 21 years and had three children.
Mrs Ahmad later began dating Mr Wallwork, who used to manage properties for her husband.
She told the court she had finished working out at her local David Lloyd gym and was walking to her car when she spotted the white Lexus had been vandalised.
"I saw it was all sprayed on the passenger side – all black all the way to the end," she said. "My car is white so it stood out and when I saw that straight away I was just really upset... it was apparent to me who had done it." She called Mr Wallwork, who was inside the gym, to tell him what had happened, then dialled 999.
As she made that second call, Ahmad appeared and began swearing at her and mocking her over a skin condition. He also started filming the altercation on his phone.
"He put it to my face and started calling me a 'black witch' and a 'black bitch'," she added.
"He is constantly mocking me for my face – I have melasma [which leads to dark patches of pigmentation]. He was saying all sorts of obscenities."
"He called me a 'bacon basher'. He has said it many times – it means that I’m going out with somebody who is white.
"I just remember I had on this Louis Vuitton tote bag... he pulled my bag and dragged me to the floor. I remember falling and rolling, banging my head. I tried to get up but the next thing was, my head was being bashed on a car and he had hold of me, putting my head against a car."
Mr Wallwork arrived and managed to grab Ahmad, pinning him down until police came.
"It looked like he was punching her," Mr Wallwork said. "As I got close he left her, he dropped her and raised his fists to me."
"I just got on top of him and he was shouting, saying he couldn’t breathe. I just said 'calm down and relax'. I didn’t get angry."
Mobile phone footage recorded by Ahmad was recovered by police. He told the court he had been provoked by Mrs Ahmad, who he claimed had been sending ‘provocative’ photographs to him.
He said she had snatched his phone and he had been trying to retrieve it during the struggle, but hadn’t meant to hit her head against the vehicle. "I said that she does witchcraft and she is the queen of witchcraft," he admitted. "It is the truth, she actually does witchcraft, she’s known for it and her family is known for it. She was following me and I kept saying 'please, don’t follow me' when I was walking to my car.
"She kicked me. She said I was bitter and twisted and that really upset me, so I said: 'You perform witchcraft and the marks are on your face.' I went towards her and tried to grab the bag off her. I pulled the bag, she resisted, I pulled harder and she fell to the floor. I tried to push her away but there wasn’t a lot of space and her head hit the car.
"I protected myself, I have never raised my hand to a woman."
Magistrates dismissed Ahmad’s version of events and found him guilty of assault by beating and criminal damage. He will be sentenced next month.