An abusive thug threatened to stab his girlfriend in the neck if he saw ‘blue lights’ as she dialled 999. Omar Ajmal, 36, had been separated from his partner for nine months when he turned up at her house and demanded to know who she’d been sleeping with.
He told her: “I just want to know who it is, tell me, I am going to give you one chance to tell me and I won’t hit you.” When the woman told him she hadn’t slept with anybody he went on to punch her repeatedly.
She later made up a name to try and make him stop, but he continued hitting her, Manchester Crown Court heard. The terrifying incident lasted for over two hours, during which he strangled her to the point she couldn’t breathe.
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Later, as she was on the phone to an emergency service operator, he could be heard warning her: “If I see blue lights I’ll stab you in the neck.”
She could also be heard screaming ‘please help, please’ before officers quickly arrived and arrested Ajmal. He lied to the officers, initially telling them he had been attacked by two men before claiming the woman had also attacked him.
Ajmal, of Stockport, has since pleaded guilty to assault, intentional strangulation and a separate offence of dangerous driving. Tuesday (March 14) he was jailed for 30 months.
Niamh Ingham, prosecuting, told the court that on November 22 last year, officers received a report of domestic violence from a woman. She hid the phone during the call as she went downstairs, before Ajmal was heard shouting and she was crying and screaming for help.
When police arrived they saw Ajmal walking away, with the woman shouting from the door: “It’s him.”
As he was cautioned, he replied: “We’ve all been partying, I was assaulted, it’s not even me. Mate, it wasn’t even me. I’m telling you, there were two more guys, you got me now go and get them guys.”
The court heard the woman said they had separated nine months before, after being in a relationship for a number of years. Ajmal had found out where she lived and showed up, demanding she tell him who she was sleeping with.
On November 21 he turned up at her house at around 10pm and repeatedly asked her who she was having sex with, and continued to attack her for two-and-a-half hours until the police arrived.
The court also heard of a separate incident of dangerous driving in February 2021, during which Ajmal had led a police officer, in an unmarked car, on a 20-minute pursuit through Manchester city centre and into Ardwick, reaching speeds of 99 mph.
He also went through multiple red lights, went onto the wrong side of the road and nearly collided with a taxi.
“Mr Ajmal was arrested and during his interview he gave a prepared statement denying that he was the driver, and stating that he was picked up by two friends, who he refused to name, and that he was the front passenger,” Ms Ingham said.
Ajmal was said to be on bail for dangerous driving when he was arrested for the assault on his partner. The court heard he had 26 previous convictions for 39 offences including drug dealing, dangerous driving and failing to comply with court orders.
Mitigating, Brendan O’Leary said there was ‘little that could be said’ about the offences, adding that they were both ‘inexcusable’.
Of the assault, he said: “It was a nasty incident that occurred over a period of time. It’s a very serious common assault.”
Ajmal, of Langdale Road, was jailed for 30 months and banned from driving for four years and three months.
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