Hotwells man, who attacked partner with vacuum cleaner, spared jail

A Hotwells man, who stomped on his girlfriend's ribs and hit her with a vacuum cleaner, has been spared jail by Bristol Magistrates' Court on Tuesday (10),  stated media reports.

Nassir Ali, of Ambra Vale East, was accused of attacking and strangling his girlfriend under the influence of heroin and crack on July 10 last year, Bristol Live reported. 

Bristol Magistrates' Court heard how Ali and his victim - who was present in court but was not supporting the prosecution - had been together for a year when the attack happened.

Prosecutor May Li said there had been no violence before that point but detailed how the "defendant became angry and violent" suddenly on the way back from a friend’s house where “they both took heroin and crack” and began "pulling her hair" in a Bristol street, reports said.

A witness who saw the scuffle between the couple called 999 after which police attended and found the pair, but the victim told them Ali had only “pushed and shoved to try and speak to me”.

After telling the cops that she did not want to press charges and will spend the night away from Ali, the woman went home and "went to sleep in the living room" to get away from him when she was again in the middle of the night, reports said.

"At 2.30 am, Mr Ali came into the room and called her a s*** and b****. He dragged her by the hair into the kitchen. She said she was terrified of what he was going to do,” the court heard.

"He took hold of her by the throat, threw her to the floor, stamped on her ribs a couple of times.

"He used a tubular Hoover attachment to strike her head once, using the round end of the attachment. He stopped when he saw blood on her face,” the court heard.

Ali’s lawyer described it as an "isolated incident" and said, "Mr Ali has very clear insight into why it happened - it was drug use".

The victim did not support a prosecution and remains in a relationship with Ali, who has one previous conviction for a violent offence from 2003. He was last in court in 2010.

Ali told the court he has worked hard to get clean and said he and his victim had "supported each other" in their drug battles, reports said.