WIFE HAD TO EAT FROM A BIN
Husband convicted of psychological abuse after arranged marriage
AHUSBAND was convicted of coercive behaviour after forcing his wife from an arranged marriage to eat from a bin.
Tanveer Ghani psychologically abused Farzana Kauser “to the extent she questioned her own sanity”.
Ghani, 57, and Miss Kauser, 37, married in Pakistan in 2015 but she did not join him in North Wales until the summer of last year.
She spent three months at his home in Bryn Trewan, Caergeiliog, Anglesey, before fleeing to relatives.
District Judge Gwyn Jones said she had been subject to emotional and financial abuse, including the ritual of “weigh-ins and measurements” because of his constant demands about her weight.
Giving evidence in Urdu, Miss Kauser had said that sometimes she was so hungry because he controlled her eating that she would devour food that driving instructor Ghani had thrown in a bin.
Ghani, born in Lahore, came to the UK as a teenager and became a driving instructor in 1993.
After his partner of 30 years, Iona Roberts, left him his sister-in-law persuaded him to re-marry.
“The intention was to meet her first before I actually married but this did not happen,” he told Llandudno magistrates.
He claimed he was not concerned about her appearance and “loved her the way she was”. He added: “I never put any restriction on her food, never called her names or raised my voice. We got on great.”
But prosecuting barrister Jo Maxwell read abusive text messages Ghani had sent to his wife, calling her “fat and lazy” in one. Miss Maxwell read a reply in which Miss Kauser had written: “Honey, I will lose weight, I’m doing my best but please do not punish me.”
Finding Ghani guilty, the judge said it was clear he was “oblivious to the feelings of others”.
He will be sentenced on April 26.