“A once independent young girl has been broken"
Ali Imam has been jailed for two years and three months after trying to control every aspect of his girlfriend’s life.
The 24-year-old was in a relationship with the woman for a year but towards the end of 2022, his coercive behaviour escalated.
He began controlling who she spoke to, what she wore and if she used makeup.
As well as often making derogatory comments towards her, Imam would get angry if his partner did not clean or make dinner.
Imam isolated her from family and friends, tracked her and monitored her phone and social media.
He sent coercive and controlling messages, physically assaulted his girlfriend and even cut up her clothes.
In April 2023, the woman ended the relationship and told police about Imam’s abusive behaviour.
Imam was arrested on suspicion of coercive and controlling behaviour but during a police interview, he denied the offences.
His phone was seized and analysis revealed that in a six-week period, Imam had asked the woman what she was doing 178 times, where she was more than 200 times and accused her of cheating on him 16 times – mainly when she did not answer his messages immediately.
Imam was charged with one count of coercive and controlling behaviour which he initially denied, but pleaded guilty with a basis of plea at Cambridge Crown Court in September 2024.
Sentencing, Judge Andrew Hurst told Imam he had made his victim’s life a misery for nearly a year and had “sought to control every aspect of the woman’s life” when she should have been respected for who she was and by the person she allowed into her life.
In Imam’s basis of plea, he accepted he had sent coercive and controlling messages, physically assaulted the woman and cut up her clothes.
The judge said family and friends had noticed a change in the woman, who had “an exciting career ahead of her” but had become secretive and isolated.
Judge Hurst said it was “uncertain how much, if ever” the woman would recover and added:
“A once independent young girl has been broken – her mother now feels sad when she sees other happy, healthy young girls.”
Imam still took no responsibility for his actions and the judge said he had “a deep-seated and dangerous attitude towards women”.
Describing Imam as “controlling, needlessly jealous and demanding”, Judge Hurst concluded:
“The only way you are going to understand that you can never do this to another woman again is to do what you told her to do – look in the mirror.
“You need to understand what it is in you that made you damage this young girl so much.”
He was jailed for two years and three months.
Imam was also handed a restraining order for life, ordering him not to contact his ex-girlfriend or her family in any way, nor refer to them directly or indirectly on social media.
Handing down the restraining order, the judge told Imam:
“You will forget the woman and her family and leave them entirely alone.”
DC Abbie McQuaid said: “Victims can also suffer from the threat and fear of injury, daily intimidation and having every aspect of their life monitored and controlled.
“Coercive control is a criminal offence, and as this case highlights, we take all reports of it very seriously.
“We would strongly urge anyone who is a victim of domestic abuse to contact police or call the national domestic violence helpline on 0808 2000 247.”
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