A man who attacked his girlfriend with a vacuum cleaner and pushed her into the road in a crack and heroin-fuelled frenzy has avoided jail.
Nassir Ali strangled his victim, stamped on her ribs and tried to shove her into the road while high on Class A drugs.
The 48-year-old pleaded guilty to possession of heroin and two counts of assault on July 10 last year but was handed a last chance by magistrates, BristolLive reports.
Bristol Magistrates' Court heard how Ali and his victim - who was present in court and was not supporting the prosecution - had been together for a year when the attack happened.
Prosecutor May Li said there had been no violence before that point but detailed how the ‘defendant became angry and violent’ suddenly on the way back from a friend’s house and began ‘pulling her hair’ in a Bristol street.
The court was told: “A witness walking through St George with friends saw Mr Ali and the victim arguing about money.
“Both were carrying and exchanging loose change. Mr Ali was seen grabbing her by the hair and pulling it multiple times.
"The witness called 999 and saw Mr Ali push her off the pavement into the road. This happened a couple of times.
“He continued to pull her and shout at her. She didn't shout or fight back."
Police attended and found the pair, but the victim told them Ali had only ‘pushed and shoved, more to try and speak to me’.
Officers advised her pushing and shoving is assault, but the victim did not want to make a complaint. She told them she would spend the night apart from Ali, then the couple walked away in different directions.
The prosecutor said things escalated further when they got home and the victim said she ‘didn’t want to talk to him’ and ‘went to sleep in the living room’ to get away from Ali.
Ms Li said: "At 2.30am, Mr Ali came into the room and called her a s*** and b****. He dragged her by the hair into the kitchen. She said she was terrified of what he was going to do.
"He took hold of her by the throat, threw her to the floor, stamped on her ribs a couple of times and said, 'You think you're a bad girl?'
"He used a tubular Hoover attachment to strike her head once, using the round end of the attachment. He stopped when he saw blood on her face. She felt intense pain to the face."
She called 999 as Ali pleaded: "Please don't get me arrested, I'm sorry."
By the time police arrived, Ali had left the home. She told them he had hit her in the head and chest. The court also heard the attack involved ‘strangulation’.
She was left with a large round lump on her forehead, with broken skin in a couple of places, a cut to the side of her nose and scratches on her neck and the side of her body, Ms Li told the court.
Ali’s lawyer described it as an ‘isolated incident’ and said ‘Mr Ali has very clear insight into why it happened - it was drug use’.
She added: "Mr Ali cannot recall what happened but he took a view that perhaps others in his position would not have done, by accepting all the evidence. He is not trying to minimise anything.”
The victim did not support a prosecution and remains in a relationship with Ali, who has one previous conviction for a violent offence from 2003. He was last in court in 2010.
Ali's lawyer Ms Stetson said her client has been living in supported accommodation since July last year.
Ali lost his partner of 18 years prior to the incident, which caused him trauma and triggered him to use ‘the coping mechanism of drugs’, the lawyer added.
She described her client as ‘unrecognisable’ from the time of the offences, when he was using a walking stick because of his drug abuse.
Ali told the court he has worked hard to get clean and said he and his victim had ‘supported each other’ in their drug battles.
He was sentenced to 12 weeks in custody suspended for 12 months, with a 20-day rehab requirement.
Presiding Justice Dr Giles Brown described the attack as a ‘prolonged, persistent assault’ but added: "We would encourage you to see that not as a punishment, but an opportunity.
“You're moving in the right direction. Stick with it and stay out of trouble. There's no room for another blip — with all due respect, we don't want to see you again."
