Bolton man threatened ex-partner with acid attack

Mostafa Al-Saleh, 24, had met the young woman in 2017 when he was a college student, appearing to be a “normal, caring person” and she was just 15.

But Bolton Crown Court heard how his behaviour took a turn for the worse after the pair were married at an Islamic ceremony two years later.

Prosecutor Hugh McKee said: “He began to feel that he could do as he wanted and she would have to conform to his expectation.”

Dressed in a green Under Armour top, Al-Saleh kept his eyes fixed to the floor while on video link from prison as Mr McKee told the court what unfolded.

The case was heard at Bolton Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

He said that Al-Saleh slapped the young woman while in his university library and how after an argument erupted between then while driving in November 2019 he assaulted her again.

This time law student Al-Saleh grabbed her, pulled of her headscarf and hit her head on the steering wheel.

Police were called but the young woman did not pursue charges at the time.

The pair broke up between December 2019 and February the next year only for Al-Saleh’s victim to move back in again in April 2020, after which time the abuse began again “within days.”

Mr McKee said: “The defendant told her that he was a man and she was a woman and she did not get to decide how she lived.”

He assaulted he yet again in October 2021 but this time the victim contacted her mother, police were called and Al-Saleh, of Ena Street, Great Lever, was arrested.

But he denied controlling and coercive behaviour and while on bail awaiting his trial continued to send threatening messages, wait outside her home and continue to try and approach her.

Mr McKee said: “The threats included to throw acid in her face and that if she contacted the police it would only make matters worse.”

Al-Saleh was arrested again on February 13 last year and has been on remand in prison ever since.

But Mr McKee said that this was not the end of Al-Saleh’s criminal actions and that in January 2022 he had been arrested after being caught dealing cannabis.

Police had been on patrol on January 26 that year when they saw a parked BMW at a secluded car park by the Spar on Deane Road.

On searching the BMW they found Al-Saleh and another man both asleep with around £330 worth of cannabis, cash and other drug paraphernalia.

On searching Al-Saleh’s home they found another £2,400 in cash with a phone, that police then analysed.

Mr McKee said: “It was clear from the messages to various people that he was acting as a driver and delivering for more than one dealer.”

Al-Saleh pleaded guilty to controlling and coercive behaviour, witness intimidation and possession with intent to supply Class C drugs.

Neil Ronan, defending, argued that Al-Saleh deserved credit for having pleaded guilty and pointed out that he was just 19 years old when “all this started.”

He said that the now 24-year-old, at the time a second-year law student, now accepted that a legal career was impossible but he still hoped to make something of his life.

Mr Ronan said: “He’s had 13 months to be staring at the wall to think about how culturally at the very least this was completely wrong, it was criminal.”

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He told the court how, when working as a driver for drug dealers, Al-Saleh was “slapped down frequently” by the more serious criminals he worked for.

Mr Ronan said: "People far more big and bad than he, it seems, would say 'do what you're told, you're just a driver.'"

But Recorder Alexandra Simmonds reminded the defendant of the devastation he had wrought on his victim.

She said: “She lived in fear of what you might do to her if she didn’t comply.”

Turning to his drug dealing, she added: “You wanted to appear to be one of the bad boys, and you regret your behaviour now.”

Recorder Simmonds jailed Al-Saleh for a total of 36 months and hit him with a restraining order forbidding him from contacting or going near his victim.