A British man obsessed with fitness made his daughter sign a “contract” for the rest of her life, promising never to gain weight – and weighed it almost daily, while leading her family with an iron. first, according to a report.
Rachid Khadla, 56, faces charges of cruelty to children and assault on his alleged treatment of his now adult daughter, Amira, and his sons, Hicham and Karim, reports Hyde News & Pictures.
“I, Amira Khadla, will never allow myself to gain weight. I will do a lot of exercises to make sure that I will never gain weight, even until I die, “Khadla’s daughter wrote in the 2012 agreement, a court said.
Amira’s domineering father allegedly assaulted her – regularly hitting her with a spoon, punching her in the chest and even throwing a chair at her once – and decided what she could wear, who she could see. and what he could watch on TV, according to the news agency.
The fitness fanatic from Windsor, just outside London, was always consumed with his children’s girth and weighed them to make sure he didn’t wrap the weight, he said.
He also strangled his 18-year-old son and beat the children with spoons if he thought they had misbehaved, the court found on Tuesday.
Khadla’s wife of 27 years, Sarah, did not intervene in the abuse, but supported the criminal investigation, saying that she has a “quick temper”, according to the report.
The father was allegedly “aggravated” by his younger son, Hicham, who had learning difficulties. In October 2019, she allegedly attacked the boy because he was too slow to clean his sister’s room.
“He punched Hicham several times and then pushed him on his sister’s bed,” said prosecutor Alex Krikler.
“Then he put both his hands around his neck and strangled him for quite some time – five to 10 seconds – before pulling him up, punching him in the chest and walking away,” he said. Hicham had tried to say, “Stop,” but he couldn’t speak.
“He could not breathe and, although the strangulation was relatively minor, the incident was extremely frightening,” Krikler added.
Hicham told his mother the next day that his father “crossed a line,” then shared his ordeal with schoolmates, while the family celebrated his sister’s college graduation.
The boys told their teachers what Hicham had told them and the staff informed the police, who arrested Khadla that evening.
“For the smallest of sins at home, he said he would receive the ‘spoon’ regularly,” Krikler told the jury.
“His father would have made him take his hands off and beat his palms with a wooden spoon. He also described how his father would push and punch him and sometimes throw things at him, ”he said.
“The abuse was not just physical. The accused also threatened with extreme violence that he would “splash his brain over the ceiling and kill him”. His father will tell him he is weak, “Krikler added.
The eldest son, Karim, now 26, recounted “control, temperament and violence” – and was hit in the head so hard when he was 15 that he shot him.
Karim left home and severed ties with the family before the allegations.
Krikler said the mother “describes the control she exercised over the family and how she had a quick temper and would get upset for no reason. That anger he describes as being directed at children. ”
Khadla claimed that he attacked Hicham in “self-defense”, saying that he was afraid of his angry son, so he tried to restrain him.
“When asked how he would discipline his children, he said that when they were younger, he would beat them down, but otherwise he said he did not beat them or punish them physically,” Kirkler said.
“He denied threatening or physically injuring his children, saying that sometimes he shouted, but that was it. He refused to control his children. “
Khadla faces three charges of child cruelty and two counts of assault in actual bodily harm.