Jilted boyfriend threatened to post nude pics
A spurned lover who threatened to post nude pictures of his ex-girlfriend after splurging her money on his gambling habit was spared jail.
Karan Beghi, 24, bombarded Ravneet Dhindsa with abusive texts before following her on her way home from work and assaulting her on 4 September last year.
The jilted boyfriend ordered his old flame to resign from her job at Ealing Council where they both worked when she ended the four-year relationship.
Terrified Ms Dhindsa left work at 4.20pm to find Beghi waiting for her in tears before chasing her as she ran to Whole Foods on Ealing Broadway.
He stormed into the store claiming he was going to kill himself when she ran to shelter behind the counter.
The council worker had previously threatened to publish naked pictures of his old flame online unless she handed in her notice ‘by 5pm’ on 27 August.
He messaged Ms Dhindsa saying: ‘In 30 minutes your world and my family will go up in smoke’ along with a picture of his slashed arm.
Beghi was taken to hospital where he was treated for the injury while Ms Dhindsa realised he had also sent her a video on Snapchat of the self-harm.
He appeared at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court wearing a grey suit and supported by his parents.
Ms Dhindsa had transferred Beghi £1,400 which he spent on his gambling addiction.
He ordered her to send him ‘everything in her bank account’ after they broke up when she asked him what it would take to leave her alone.
Prosecutor Zara Khan, reading from Ms Dhindsa’s statement, said: ‘This is a domestic incident. She says on 4 September at 4.20pm I was leaving my work place at the council.
‘My ex-partner was speaking to me, he was upset that we had broken up after an abusive four-year relationship.
‘He appeared upset, he was crying. He spotted me outside, I think he was waiting for me. I started walking away.
‘He followed me. He said he would follow me wherever I go.
‘I started to jog and he started to run after me. His parents are aware of what is happening.
‘I called his parents, he told me to cut the phone. I cut the phone and told him I cut the phone.
‘This was outside the Whole Foods in Ealing. I don’t think he believed me because he tried to grab my phone. It hurt my chest.
‘He was saying you’re not calling my mum. A couple of people came close by and told me to go into the Whole Foods.
‘Staff allowed me to go behind the counter area. He came inside and started shouting he didn’t care about the consequences he was going to kill himself.
‘The staff kept me in the back room and kept checking. Karan tried to come in again. Staff told me I could exit through a back door. My friend picked me up in a car and I called police.
‘On Tuesday 27 August Karan told me I had to resign from my job at Ealing Council by 5pm and email my managers and include him in the email.
‘He said if I didn’t he would post naked and indecent pictures of me on social media.
‘He sent me a picture of his arm with a cut on it. He said in 30 minutes your world and my family will go up in smoke.
‘He said it was in the bathroom and there was blood everywhere. He sent me a video on Snapchat showing the cut.’
‘She had been with him four years and she says she found out about three years ago that he had a gambling addiction. She says she has given him about £1400,’ the prosecutor added.
‘She asked him what she could do for him to leave her alone and he told her to send him everything in her bank account.’
Antonia Gray, defending, told the court that despite his threats Beghi was not in possession of any indecent images of the victim.
‘The reality was that he possessed no such videos at all, a thorough search of his phone was made by police and it was a case of a rant on his part, such was his desperation,’ Ms Gray said.
‘He evoked her sympathy to the extent that she did send her money.’
Beghi, of Queens Road, Southall, admitted common assault and harassment.
He was sentenced to four months imprisonment suspended for one and a half years and ordered to pay £390 in compensation.
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