Student assaulted wife after she travelled from Nigeria for …

A Bangor University student attacked his estranged wife after she travelled from Nigeria to North Wales in the hope of a reconciliation. The 34-year-old locked her in a room but she escaped. John Nwadiaju was convicted of assault causing actual bodily harm.

A judge told him he had shown "no genuine remorse". She ordered him to do 250 hours of unpaid work and hoped that having an 11-month jail term suspended for the next 12 months would ensure he doesn't re-offend. Prosecutor Paulinus Barnes told Caernarfon[3] Crown Court that Nwadiaju, of High Street, Bangor[4], had been violent towards his wife in Nigeria and they had separated last August.

He moved to North Wales and lived in a shared house while studying for a Masters degree at Bangor University. But, on October 13, his wife Kosisochukwu Stella Echem - known as Stella - travelled from Nigeria to Bangor, hoping for a reconciliation. The court heard he told her that she would have to come with him to Edinburgh and get two jobs.

But she said she was going to live with her uncle in Manchester. Stella had brought a friend to Bangor and was going to the friend's contact's house, but the prosecutor Mr Barnes said Nwadiaju became abusive. He pushed her into a room and locked the door, the court heard.

However, the woman managed to turn the lock from the inside. She took some belongings and left, but then realised her husband still had her passport. She reached into Nwadiaju's pocket but, as she did so, he punched her forehead and mouth with both hands.

A few days later, she went to hospital for treatment. Police arrested Nwadiaju and found traces of blood at the property. He was charged and convicted after a trial.

Richard Edwards, defending, said his client maintained it was "self-defence" but was found guilty of the offence. He has no previous convictions. He said: "He knows he's done wrong.

He's sorry for what happened." He is in the UK on a 12-month student visa which expires in January 2024. He is taking a Masters degree in Environmental and Business Management at Bangor University and has an excellent work record.

He has been offered a job in Edinburgh but has put his application for a work visa on hold pending these criminal proceedings. But the judge Her Honour Nicola Saffman told Nwadiaju he had shown no genuine remorse. "Your remorse is for the position you put yourself in by inflicting the violence on your wife," she said. She imposed the suspended sentence and ordered the defendant to pay GBP500 costs.

She also set a two-year restraining order prohibiting the defendant from contacting his wife except through lawyers over any divorce or other proceedings.

References

1. ^ Llandudno (www.dailypost.co.uk)
2. ^ Victorian Extravaganza organisers dismiss claims over attendance figures and threat to future (www.dailypost.co.uk)
3. ^ Caernarfon (www.dailypost.co.uk)
4. ^ Bangor (www.dailypost.co.uk)