A Bradford man who strangled a woman and repeatedly slapped her after she rejected his sexual advances has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Qazi Waqas, 39, of Emerson Avenue, Daisy Hill, was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court after a jury convicted him of intentional strangulation and common assault. He had denied both charges and maintained his position during his trial.
The attack happened on the morning of January 22, 2024, after Waqas arrived at the woman’s home while she was alone.
Judge Sophie McKone, who heard the evidence during the trial, said she was satisfied that Waqas made sexual advances towards the woman before becoming extremely angry when she rejected him.
The court heard that Waqas offered the woman a massage. After she refused, he slapped her hard across the face three or four times, causing her to fall onto a sofa.
Waqas then strangled her using both hands.
Judge McKone said the woman had demonstrated during her evidence how Waqas placed both of his thumbs on her neck and used “full force”.
The woman was so terrified during the assault that she urinated.
Waqas fled from the property after becoming aware that there was a camera inside the house.
Judge McKone said the woman had effectively been detained and attacked inside her own home, where she was entitled to feel safe.
“What you did was very dangerous,” she told Waqas.
“You lost control of yourself, and you could have caused much more serious injury to [her].
“Your behaviour is also extremely worrying.”
The psychological effects of the attack have continued long after the physical assault.
In a statement read to the court by prosecutor Clare Walsh, the woman described experiencing severe shock, fear and anxiety. The trauma had affected her everyday life and caused her to isolate herself.
She also expressed concern about the outcome of the criminal proceedings, the effect they could have on Waqas and “what he could be capable of”.
The court heard that she remains frightened by the possibility that he could attempt to harm her again.
Judge McKone said: “What happened to her continues to haunt her to this day.”
Mitigating, Ella Embleton-Brown told the court that Waqas was a father-of-four and had been of previous good character.
He arrived in the UK in 2022 and had not previously appeared before the courts apart from the offences for which the jury convicted him.
The court was also told that Waqas’s time in custody had had a detrimental effect on his wife and family.
Judge McKone sentenced him to 30 months in prison for intentional strangulation. A further three-month sentence was imposed for common assault but will run concurrently, meaning it does not increase the overall two-and-a-half-year term.
The judge said Waqas will serve half of the custodial sentence.
Waqas, who appeared for sentencing by video link from HMP Leeds, was also made subject to a restraining order prohibiting him from contacting the victim. The order has no time limit.