Prominent member of immigrant community jailed for breaches
Ali Jamel Saleh Al-Qahwaji, 62, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after earlier admitting two charges of breaching a protection order and assault.
Before his convictions, the defendant was routinely seen in court supporting those of the Muslim faith.
In August 2021, he was granted a discharge without conviction after breaching a temporary protection order.
But he was back again in October last year, when he was sentenced to a month of community detention and nine months' supervision for breaching a protection order and breaching the Search and Surveillance Act.
Yesterday, the court heard his former partner and mother of his child was in contact with him strictly for childcare purposes and had a protection order against him.
But on August 5, the defendant showed up to his child's school not on his agreed day and in breach of a parenting order.
He waited outside until the child and her mother walked out.
Later, while holding the child, Al-Qahwaji yelled abuse at a man sitting in a car, who was with the defendant's ex-partner.
The defendant said something about putting his boot through the man's face and the child was crying hysterically, the police summary said.
Al-Qahwaji spat at the man and the phlegm landed on his neck.
The abuse towards the man made the mother and her child scared and distressed.
The trio got into the car and drove away from Al-Qahwaji.
On November 28, Al-Qahwaji again showed up to the child's school, not on his agreed day, and breached the protection order.
In a letter to the court, the defendant's former partner said she was worried about her daughter being exposed to the defendant's behaviour and he should be embarrassed about his actions.
"Your job as a dad should be to protect her from harm, not to expose her to it," Judge David Robinson said
Al-Qahwaji said he had a defence to the charges but did not want to be in custody pending a trial so pleaded guilty.
He claimed he did not spit on the man as it was against his religion to do so.
Counsel Deborah Henderson said the consequences of further offending had been made clear to her client.
"Mr Al-Qahwaji has learnt his lesson because he realises that if he acts outside the protection order ... he's going to end up in prison again," she said.
"This time in custody has been a real shock to him and been quite difficult."
Judge Robinson sentenced the defendant to nine months' imprisonment.
Due to his time spent in custody on remand, Al-Qahwaji will be released shortly.
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