Sheffield Crown Court: Twisted thug beat woman so badly in front of her children they thought she was dead

Two young children have been left traumatised after witnessing their mother being beaten by a twisted thug, who knocked her out during the course of the horrific attack. 

Sheffield Crown Court heard how even after noticing the children were present, callous Changase Akatar continued to beat their mother, during an incident at a Rotherham property. 

Describing the circumstances of the assault, Judge Peter Kelson KC told Akatar: "You assaulted her, you punched her, and by reason of your punches, you took her to the ground, in your own home. You pulled her hair, you bit her, you stamped on her, and you rendered her unconscious by reason of this attack.

"Her two children came downstairs, they witnessed the attack. You did not stop when they appeared…they thought their mother was dead. They saw her injuries, which were extensive."

The woman was left with injuries including bruising to her eyes, face and upper body, and was also left with blood in her eyes, which took around five days to clear. 

In a gut-wrenching statement to the court, she described the significant impact the attack continues to have upon her children, several years later. 

She said one of her children has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as well as separation anxiety, resulting in them frequently leaving school due to fears about what will happen to their mother if she is left alone. 

The other child is 'angry all the time' following the attack, the complainant said. 

Turning to the way in which the psychological trauma of Akatar’s crimes have affected her, the complainant said she is now a 'shell of myself'.

She added that she was previously someone who did not 'have a care in the world,' but following the attack, she was no longer the same 'bubbly, outgoing' person. 

Akatar, aged 44, sought to deny responsibility by pleading not guilty to a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, but jurors rejected his account when they found him guilty at the conclusion of the Sheffield Crown Court trial in April 2023. 

Judge Kelson said that the jury’s guilty verdict meant they also rejected claims made by Akatar during the course of the trial, in which he said the complainant 'came at him with a knife'. Akatar also maintained the claims in his pre-sentence report, even after being convicted. 

Judge Kelson told him: "This was not accepted by the jury, and it is certainly not accepted by me."

Akatar has a number of previous convictions for offences including: battery; causing or permitting an act which resulted in animal suffering; production of cannabis and possession of an article with a blade or point, the court heard. 

Geraldine Kelly, defending, referred Judge Kelson to character references made on Akatar’s behalf, and said that it was to his credit that he had not committed any further offences in the years since the attack took place. 

"In his letter to the court, notwithstanding what he said in the Probation report, he has expressed remorse…he accepts this conviction by the jury, and he is remorseful," Ms Kelly said. 

Ms Kelly said Akatar has health complaints, including diabetes; and suggested his teenage children would be significantly affected if he were to be sent to prison. Ms Kelly said an immediate prison sentence would result in one of his children being sent to live with their mother, who they 'do not get on' with. 

She suggested Akatar’s remorse, health issues, the impact on his children and his realistic prospect of rehabilitation were just grounds for any sentence of imprisonment to be suspended. 

This assertion was rejected by Judge Kelson, who told Akatar that the only 'appropriate' punishment was an immediate prison sentence. 

Jailing Akatar, of Birch Avenue, Malton, North Yorkshire, for two years, Judge Kelson told him: "This is a very serious case, there’s no getting around that…it was a nasty attack, it was a very, very serious attack."

Judge Kelson also granted a restraining order, prohibiting Akatar from contacting the complainant until further order of the court. 

After Akatar was sent to begin his prison sentence, the complainant tearfully thanked Judge Kelson for the sentence passed.