A woman has told Newcastle Crown Court that she believed she was going to die after being assaulted by Khaled Aziz, who poured boiling sugar water over her and later burned her with hair straighteners. The court heard that Aziz, 32, wore a "Guy Fawkes-style" half mask during one of the attacks and threatened to set the victim on fire.
Attacks over several weeks
On April 7 last year, Aziz went to the former friend's home wearing a half mask, shouting at her and smashing plant pots in her garden. He poured a liquid that smelled like petrol over her and searched for a lighter while making threats to kill her, but left after failing to find one. The judge, Recorder Andrew Latimer, described this as "a terrifying experience for a lone woman in her own home."
The next day, April 8, Aziz returned, forced the woman towards the stairs, went to the kitchen, boiled a kettle with sugar added, and poured the contents onto her stomach, telling her he would 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.
Attack with hair straighteners
On April 29, just four days after the woman returned home, Aziz entered her property in the early hours while she was asleep. Prosecutor Jane Foley told the court: "She was asleep in bed when she heard the door and then the defendant's voice inside her bedroom. He again threatened to kill her and used straighteners from her bedside cabinet to burn her back during a struggle in the dark. She feared that the defendant would kill her." The woman recognized Aziz by his voice and the torchlight from his phone. She left voicemails for her father in which she could be heard crying, then called 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 every day. 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 background
Aziz, of West Holborn Road, South Shields, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was jailed for four-and-a-half years. He was also handed a 12-year restraining order preventing him from contacting the victim. The court heard that Aziz, who appeared via video link from HMP Durham, had 14 convictions for 23 offences, a difficult childhood, did not finish school, and started experimenting with drugs from a young age but has been co-operating well in prison.
