He also made her drink bleach
CRICKETER Mustafa Bashir could join a top club after dodging jail for beating his wife with his bat.
He claims he was offered a contract with Leicestershire as long as he escaped being banged up for a series of attacks on hotel receptionist Fakhara, 33. The club has since denied this. Bashir, 34, hit her on the back with his cricket bat because he felt she spent too long chatting to a pal on the phone.
He also forced her to take tablets and drink bleach during a row over him going on a cricket tour to the Netherlands.
The Pakistani berated her for wearing western clothes, called her pals “slags” and tried to turn her against her family.
Fakhara eventually told police: “I did fear for my life. He told me he was going to kill me.” She said before she met Bashir she was confident and active. But since he abused her she had hidden herself away from family and friends.
Bashir was given an 18-month prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered pay £1,000 costs after admitting assault at Manchester Crown Court.
Slapped
He was also given an indefinite restraining order. Judge Richard Mansell QC said the cricketer had controlled her so she had “difficulty trusting people”.
Roger Brown, prosecuting, said Bashir had threatened to kill himself with a knife. Then he made her drink bleach and tablets though she could not swallow either.
He told her: “I want you to kill yourself.” Fakhara took photos of injuries to her neck and arm and left the house for two days. On New Year’s Eve 2014 Bashir seized her phone and would not let her have it back after she had spoken to a pal for half an hour.
He bent her fingers back then slapped her so hard she fell unconscious.
Mr Brown said: “The next thing she remembers is waking up on her bed.
“She said to him: ‘It’s over, please leave me alone.’ But he called her a slag and strangled her until she was struggling to breathe.
“He grabbed a cricket bat that was in the bedroom and hit her over the back with it. She recalls feeling a sharp pain.
“He said to her: ‘If I hit you with this bat with my full power then you would be dead.’”
Hugh McKee, defending, said Bashir was about to sign for Leicestershire, but the club denies a contract was offered.