A Polish woman was abused for years by her Tunisian husband in their home in Kaatsheuvel. Last September, the woman really couldn’t take it anymore and fled to a Polish barbershop. She had been abused for days and feared being killed. Her husband denies everything, but the court does not believe him and sentenced him to fifteen months in prison on Friday.
Lotfi H. (41) used enormous violence against his wife for years, it became apparent during the hearing. It also turned out that he does not care about authorities in the Netherlands. The man had been known for domestic violence for years, but did not want to talk about it with anyone. He thinks he has done nothing wrong.
Even more worrying is that Lotfi’s wife also refuses any contact with authorities. The justice department was therefore very concerned about this. They see a relationship in which the woman is highly dependent and simply stays with her husband, despite all the domestic violence.
Lotfi had been abusing his wife for some time, the court found, but that became worse when he thought that his wife was having a relationship with a woman from work last summer.
The judge listed one horrific situation after another: he hit her, smashed things like a laptop and phones, destroyed her clothes, threw a knife at her, pulled her on the ground by her hair, shaved off pieces of her hair, kicked her, put out a cigarette on her, held a lighter to her back, bit her and broke her nose.
She was also regularly evicted and was only allowed to return if H. agreed. After her flight to the barbershop, 35 lesions were found all over her body.
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In the court’s opinion, Lotfi’s actions can be regarded as ‘intimate terror’, a ‘serious form of partner violence characterized by isolating, humiliating and intimidating the partner, whereby the victim loses her individuality due to the gradually built-up pattern of control and coercion’.
The court sees that the Tunisian has not taken any responsibility for his actions. He stated to the police that his wife is mentally ill and that she staged everything, in effect humiliating the complainant again, according to the court. It was also typical that Lotfi did not show up for the hearing of his case. He chose to stay in Tunisia, with his sick father.
The woman has now returned to her husband, it became apparent during the hearing. Despite the control, coercion and humiliation, the prosecutor looked concerned. “The man has no respect for her and no insight into his own actions and the consequences.”
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