Burnley man threatened to 'carve up' girlfriend with 14 inch blade

Mohammed Haroon, of Lindsay Street, Burnley, appeared at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty to assault by beating, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and threatening someone with an offensive weapon in a private place.

The court heard that in November last year, Haroon and his then partner were at his house when he became jealous, thinking she was texting another man.

Mohammed Haroon (Image: Lancs Police)

Prosecuting, Peter Barr said: “He snatched her phone off her and then grabbed a metal bar from inside the wardrobe and raised it above his head.

“His victim said, ‘go on I dare you’, and then he struck her three times on the left arm, leaving her with red marks.”

Mr Barr said the second violent incident occurred a month later on December 10, when Haroon once again became abusive to his then girlfriend.

He called her a “rat” and told her to shut up several times.

Mr Barr continued: “He picked up a long knife from the radiator in the bedroom. It was a knife with a thick handle and had Urdu writing on it. The blade was about 14inches long.

“He said to her, ‘I will carve you, I will carve you’, before she said, ‘go on then’.

“The defendant then went to stab her with the knife and she put her hands up and he started waving it about and it connected with her jacket and then ripped her jacket.”

The court was told that Haroon then put the knife to her throat, with his victim slapping him in self defence.

The knife was discarded but Haroon slapped his partner in the face and goaded her by saying, “look at you crying like a baby, I have done worse to [my ex-partner]”.

Mr Barr went on: “He continued to be verbally abusive and punched her, which is when she began screaming and he said, ‘you are lucky I am not kicking you in the head’.

“He continued to punch her, and then hit her really hard on the nose and she fell backwards down the stairs.

“She told him he’d broken her nose and he then told her he loved her.”

The police were called and Haroon ran from the scene but was eventually arrested on December 12.

Judge Simon Medland KC said: “Women in intimate relationships are not there to be anyone’s punch bag. You have no right to raise your fists or lift a finger against your domestic partners.

“Your antecedent record shows that that was an attitude you seemed to not understand.

“The danger of using weapons is enormous, and if things had turned out differently she might have been seriously injured.”

Judge Medland KC sentenced Haroon to 29 months in prison (two years and five months) and handed him a 10-year restraining order against his former partner.

Haroon, who has 11 convictions for 16 offences, was also sentenced to seven days concurrent for handling stolen goods, in the form of a Yamaha motorbike which he said he’d been paid £100 to look after by some friends.