Khaled Aziz, 32, has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for a series of violent attacks on a woman in her own home, including dousing her with boiling sugar water and burning her with hair straighteners. The attacks occurred over several weeks in April last year, leaving the victim with first-degree burns and lasting trauma.
First Attack with Petrol-Like Liquid
On the afternoon of April 7, Aziz arrived at the victim's home wearing a "Guy Fawkes-style" half mask. He shouted at her, smashed plant pots in her garden, and poured a liquid that smelled like petrol over her. The court heard that he then searched for a lighter to set her on fire but failed to find one. The Recorder Andrew Latimer described this as "a terrifying experience for a lone woman in her own home."
Boiling Sugar Water Attack
The next day, April 8, Aziz returned and forced the victim towards the stairs. He went to the kitchen, boiled a kettle with added sugar, and poured the contents onto her stomach while threatening to kill her. The woman suffered first-degree burns and was treated at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary, where she was prescribed morphine for pain. She temporarily moved in with family, and the council boarded up her home for safety.
Straightener Attack While Asleep
On April 29, just four days after the victim returned home, Aziz entered her house in the early hours of the morning while she was asleep. He threatened to kill her and used hair straighteners from her bedside cabinet to burn her back during a struggle in the dark. The victim, who recognized him by his voice and phone torchlight, managed to call her father and then the police. Officers found her crying in bed with fresh marks on her back; the straighteners were still warm.
Victim Impact Statement
In a victim impact statement read in court, the woman said: "What happened to me has caused long-lasting physical, emotional and practical consequences that I'm still dealing with everyday." She added: "The physical injuries affect my ability to carry out normal everyday tasks and have left me feeling vulnerable in my own body. During the attack, an accelerant was poured over me while I was threatened with being set on fire. I was also subjected to threats to kill me - these threats were terrifying. I genuinely believed that I was going to die."
Sentence and Restraining Order
Aziz, of West Holborn Road, South Shields, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was jailed for four-and-a-half years and handed a 12-year restraining order preventing him from contacting the victim. The court noted that Aziz had a difficult childhood, did not finish school, and started experimenting with drugs at a young age, but has been co-operating well in prison. He has 14 convictions for 23 offences.
