A woman who claims she was held a virtual prisoner by her possessive and violent partner told a court he had threatened to kill her family if she left him.
The 28 year old said Iqbal Ali (32) controlled her in every way — even forcing her make friends with other young women so he could try to seduce them.
The woman, who gave evidence at Manchester Crown Court from behind a screen, said Ali, with whom she had lived for around seven years, told her she didn’t satisfy him sexually and he wanted to sleep with other women.
At one point the woman had to share a house with Ali and another of his girlfriends and her child. The other woman was told the witness was a live-in babysitter and a good friend, but the court was told Ali was having a relationship with both.
The jury heard he was extremely possessive, - so much so that when she went for a job interview at a city centre store, he made her wear a miniature video camera disguised as a button, which he later played back and accused her of showing too much interest in a male applicant. He refused to let her go back. When she worked as an assistant at an Oldham school, he forced her to fake illness and take sick leave because he was jealous and angry that she had been speaking to a male teacher.
Ali denies 10 charges including two of rape against the woman. He denies a further 15 counts against three other women with whom he had relationships.
Asked by Gordon Cole, defending, why she had never warned off any of Ali’s other girl friends in view of the way she had suffered, she replied: “He would have hurt me if I ruined his chances.”
Mr Cole suggested that the things she claimed about Ali had never happened, which she refuted.
The case continues.
