Locations
Church Street, Accrington, BB52
Description
A woman raped by a "brutish and violent" thug while pregnant went on to suffer a miscarriage soon after.
The woman was repeatedly raped by Faran Abbas during a nine month long campaign of abuse which left her feeling scared, broken and unable to recognise herself in the mirror. Preston Crown Court today heard that Abbas attempted to use his religious background to justify his behaviour but that was rubbished by a judge who told him: "There is no excuse, nor could there ever be."
The victim had only known Abbas, 28, for a few months but after an initial good impression, he soon began to "treat her life as his own, her body as his own". In a powerful victim impact statement read to the court, the woman revealed the extent of the impact caused by Abbas' evil action. He, meanwhile, has since remarried a "new, young wife".
In a trial at Preston Crown Court, Abbas, of Church Street, Accrington, was found guilty of five counts of rape and two counts of controlling and coercive behaviour. Each of those rape charges accounted for more than one incident and the jury took just one hour to make a decision.
That trial heard that the woman kept a heartbreaking diary in which she wrote: "He took and took from me until I no longer existed." She said Abbas repeatedly raped her during the eight month ordeal and that members of his family turned a blind eye, while her own family saw her go from a "bright, bubbly, confident young lady to a woman they hardly recognised".
Abbas returned to the court to be sentenced today as David Traynor, prosecuting, summarised the victim's impact statement. He said she had been left suffering from nightmares and insomnias, had lost friends and her career and was constantly scared of being attacked and kidnapped.
It continued: "I feel I'm a stranger in my on reflection. I don't recognise myself in the mirror. I do want to believe the broken person staring back is me. I have lost everything [...] because of what he did to me."
Defending, David Ellis accepted the was no credit available after what he described as an exceedingly fair trial. Arguing against a life sentence, he offered the small mitigation that this wasn't a "campaign" in the legal sense that it wasn't multiple victims. Mr Ellis described Abbas as "a creation of his upbringing and his own heritage" and that he had five character references from people who supported him, including one from his "new, young wife".
Sentencing, Judge Simon Medland QC said: "You behaved in a brutish and violent way. You treated her as someone whose opinions were not worth listening to, who could be treated with the utmost contempt and indeed on many occasions with cruelty.
"You sought, in my view, to subvert the peaceful and respectable religion of Islam to use that as an excuse for your conduct. Islam is no excuse for your conduct. There is no excuse, nor could there ever be. The impact on your victim is very significant indeed."
"Over a period of nine months, I am quite sure you behaved in a violent and brutal way to a woman who did not deserve any such treatment. Treating her life as your own and her body as your own."
Ruling out a whole life term, Judge Medland handed Abbas an 18 year sentence. He also ruled that Abbas should be classified as a dangerous offender. That means that he will only be released if a parole board approves it and that he can only apply for parole two thirds of the way through the sentence.
He will also spend an additional two years on licence after the full term and will be subject to notification requirements for the rest of his life.