CONVICTION QUASHED
Driving instructor wins appeal against conviction for treatment of bride:
AN Anglesey driving instructor who was sentenced to 18 weeks in jail for controlling his younger Pakistani bride had the conviction quashed.
Tanveer Ghani, 58, of Caergeiliog, said the last year had “been a nightmare” and he was having to start over again.
He was locked up in May this year for controlling and coercive behaviour over bride Farzana Kauser, 20 years his junior.
Mr Ghani challenged the conviction and Judge Niclas Parry upheld his appeal at Mold Crown Court.
After hearing the evidence, the judge said Mr Ghani could not have known the effect his behaviour was having on his bride.
Speaking after the decision, Mr Ghani said: “The last 12 months have been a nightmare.
“I have lost everything. I’ve got to start all over again.”
His barrister Ember Wong said her client, who was lonely after his previous relationship broke down, believed he had been used so Mrs Kauser could gain UK residency.
The original trial at a court in Llandudno in March this year heard they married in 2015 in Pakistan. But she did not come to Britain until the summer of last year because of visa delays.
She spent only three months at his home before moving in with relatives.
Ghani’s former partner had left him after 30 years and his sister-in-law persuaded him to remarry.
He said he was initially not keen, preferring a Western wife but, after Mrs Kauser sent him text messages, he relented.
The couple’s first meeting was at their marriage in Pakistan in 2015. She finally obtained a “spousal” visa to come to the UK last July.