A British millionaire has been sentenced to four years and eight months in prison in Italy for beating up his model ex-girlfriend and threatening to torch her home.
Ajaz Shah Hussain, 38, also burnt Rania Baffoun, 28, with a hot iron on her face as "punishment" during their 18-month relationship, the court heard.
Hussain Threatened to Leak Sex Tape, Set Lamborghini on Fire
One of the exhibits in the case against him was the iron and graphic pictures of the injuries she suffered were shown in court – although he claimed Baffoun had "brushed against the iron" while he was using it.
Prosecutor Davide Ercolani explained to the court in Rimini, Italy, how Hussain, who was the CEO of a foreign trading firm called Fortitude Capital, was arrested after police were called to Baffoun's flat.
Hussain, a married father of two with luxury homes in Knightsbridge and Milan, was held after driving to Rimini in his gold coloured UK-registered Lamborghini. The court heard how witnesses described how he was shouting and threatening to release a sex tape the couple had made before trying to set fire to the car in January 2020.
Baffoun Repeatedly Abused by Hussain, Followed Her After She Tried to Escape
Ercolani explained how Baffoun, who is of Tunisian origin but of Italian nationality, was the victim of repeated domestic violence and had been hospitalised twice with her injuries. She said he burnt her with a hot iron as a "punishment" and in August 2019 and police were called to the Milan flat they shared, after Hussain allegedly strangled her and punched her in the face.
Ercolani told the court how a "simple domestic appliance was turned into a lethal weapon" as he showed pictures of burns on the victim's face to the shocked hearing. He also described how Hussain filmed himself as he threatened his girlfriend with a knife saying he would kill her then 'hire the best and most expensive lawyers' to get him off.
Hussain also tried to run Baffoun over outside his Knightsbridge flat in December 2020 and she had then decided to leave him and return to her home in Rimini to escape his abusive controlling behaviour, the court heard. As he was arrested outside her home, the prosecutor said he shouted at police: "You don't scare me, you can't do anything to me because I can buy anyone I want."
Hussain Claims He Followed Baffoun After Learning She was Just After His Money
Hussain did not appear in court and was sentenced in his absence and officials will now try to have him extradited to Italy so he can serve his sentence. In a statement to court he had claimed Baffoun was a high class prostitute who he had fallen in love with and had invited her to live with him at his Knightsbridge flat after meeting her in London in 2018.
He said he had given her more than £150,000 for plastic surgery including a breast enhancement, lip work and dental implants as well as jewellery and money for a car. However, he said the relationship turned sour late in 2019 and she fled back to Italy.
In a statement at an earlier hearing he said: ''It quickly became apparent to me that this woman was just after money - even though she told me she was no longer having sex with clients."
"Shortly after we met, a £45,000 watch went missing and she admitted taking it from me," Hussain said. ''I would pay for everything she wanted but she also became jealous of my wife, I am allowed to have a wife and take another woman, but she wasn't happy with it.
''I spent thousands on her so that she wouldn't return to prostitution but the relationship just degenerated," he added. ''I didn't attack her with an iron, what happened was I was ironing something and she accidentally brushed her arm against it.
''I just went to see her after we finally ended the relationship and I wanted to try and get my money back as well as the Mercedes car I had got her."
In addition to prison, Hussain was also ordered to pay 60,000 Euro compensation to Baffoun and her lawyer Umberto De Gregorio "With this verdict my client has found some serenity that she lost. Justice has been done and the judge believed what happened and this was not the result of her exaggerations or aspirations."
