Edinburgh man who pointed air rifle at woman during shocking campaign of abuse is jailed

Kamal Alaroush, 62, pointed an air rifle at the woman’s head and assaulted her by kicking her on the body during several horrifying attacks carried out at his capital home.

The abuse saw Alaroush constantly monitor the terrified victim’s movements, dictate what food she could eat and force her to perform sex acts on him when he demanded it.

The “physical, emotional and sexual” abuse came to an end when a concerned neighbour called the police after hearing Alaroush screaming and shouting at the woman in July 2020.

Kamal Alaroush, 62, outside Edinburgh Sheriff Court | Alexander Lawrie

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told the victim was locked in the flat at the capital’s Polwarth area and was so scared of her attacker she had held a police officer’s hand through the letterbox. Alaroush refused to open the door to the home forcing police officers to use a battering ram to gain entry.

The Libyan national denied all the offences against him and claimed the woman was a heroin addict and would invite other drug users into his home against his will.

He said he would spend his day shopping and cooking for both of them and most of his spare time was spent visiting his local Mosque several times a day to pray.

But following four days of evidence during a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court a jury failed to believe his lies and returned guilty verdicts to two offences on Thursday.

Alaroush was found guilty of engaging in a course of conduct that was abusive between April 1, 2019 and August 19, 2020. He was also found guilty of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting, swearing and struggling with police officers at his home on July 29, 2020.

The victim told the court she met Alaroush in 2018 and he had soon became abusive towards her by controlling where she could go, deciding what food she could eat and making offensive and derogatory remarks. He also kicked her on the body and she described one terrifying incident where the thug pointed an air rifle at her head while he was cleaning the weapon in his kitchen.

The woman, who gave evidence via a video link, also described how she would have to regularly perform sex acts on Alaroush against her will.

Prosecutor Xander van der Scheer told the jury Alaroush had exerted “complete and utter control” over the woman’s life and had “forced her to do things she did not want to do”.

The fiscal depute said the sex acts had “made her feel disgusting” and the claims that the victim was a heroin addict were “preposterous and utterly ridiculous”.

Following the jury’s guilty verdicts, Sheriff Julius Komorowski told Alaroush he was being placed on the sex offenders register on an interim basis and remanded him in custody. The sheriff deferred sentence to next month for the preparation of a criminal justice social work report and a psychiatric assessment.