Crime & Court
Strict Dad Beats daughter, 17, Hit Her Boyfriend With Hammer After Catching Them Having Sex
Soruth Ali, 42, who had a previous rape conviction, was jailed after beating his daughter and her boyfriend after he heard them having sex in her room early one morning.
A Muslim father has been banned from contacting his 17-year-old daughter for three years after he beat her when he caught her having sex with her secret boyfriend.
Soruth Ali, 42, woke around 5am one morning to hear sounds coming from his daughter’s room, and walked in to find her in bed with boyfriend.
Ali grabbed a hammer and hit the boyfriend over the head with it before chasing him out of his family home in Leigh, Greater Manchester.
The restaurant chef punched and kicked his daughter, who was curled up in a ball, before dragging her out of her bedroom by her hair.
The boyfriend suffered a gash to his head and needed two staples, while his daughter was left with bruises on her face and head.
She was left so scared of her dad that she moved to a secret address under police protection, before going into care.
In a statement to police the daughter claimed her father was “very religious and very controlling” and would not let her out of the house unless she wore an Islamic veil.
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She said she had been forced to live “two lives” at the family home as she was made to wear a headscarf in front of her father – only for to secretly take it off once she was out of his sight.
She said she wanted to “live her own life.”
Despite the assault on August 21 this year, Ali was said by probation officers to have shown a ‘lack of remorse and empathy’ for his daughter and her boyfriend and even attempted to ‘justify’ his actions.
At Bolton Crown Court, he admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault and was jailed for 14 months.
The daughter, who had been seeing her boyfriend without the knowledge of her mother and father, sneaked him back to her her home while her parents were away.
But the boyfriend was still at the property when Ali and his wife unexpectedly returned home early and as a result he ended up hiding in the daughter’s bedroom for the night.
Peter Gilmore prosecuting said: “In the early hours of the morning Mr Ali heard noises coming from his daughter’s room so went to see what it was. He saw his daughter having sex with (her boyfriend) and became enraged and chased (her boyfriend) from his home, and hit him in the back of the head with a hammer telling him to get out of his house.
“As (her boyfriend) fled the property, Mr Ali returned to his daughters bedroom and started punching and hitting her and she fell to the floor and he began dragging her round by her hair. She suffered bruising to her face.
“(The daughter) and (the boyfriend) both called the police as did a neighbour and Mr Ali was arrested. His daughter was a particularly vulnerable young woman, as she was his 17-year-old daughter living in his house.
“It is clear in his probation report that he was trying to minimise these offences. He has also made attempts to minimise and justify the offences.”
In her statement, which was detailed at an earlier hearing, the daughter claimed her father hit her on the left arm and knocked her to the floor. She said he then began to kick her to the head and legs and she curled up in a ball and was she was so scared she wet herself.
She said she could hear her mother and sister saying ‘stop’ but Ali grabbed her ponytail and dragged her out of the bedroom as other relatives advised her to pack her belongings and go.
The court heard Ali had a previous rape conviction from 1995 for which he served seven years jail from 2003 after he attacked a 15-year-old girl when she was in school uniform.
In mitigation, his lawyer Isobel Thomas said Ali’s restaurant which has five employees and where he works as head chef had to temporarily closed whilst he was kept in custody.
She added: “He has admitted his actions and fully accepts the statements of his family as in his words ‘they do not lie’. He is not trying to minimise his actions. It was claimed he lacks remorse for his victims and empathy for his daughter but he tells me that this is not the case, he just finds it difficult to effectively show his emotions.
“He knows the effect this has had on his daughter and his family as well, and he is sorry for his behaviour. He said he is missing his family and he wishes he could open his heart and show them how much he misses them.
“His anger was sparked from seeing his daughter have sex with someone, that he had never met. The defendant knows that is no excuse or justification for him behaving in the way that he did.
“He has been happily married with his wife for 20 years, and they have four children. Three girls aged 19, 17, and 14 and a little boy aged 5. There has been no incidents of violence in the family home apart from this one. He has been in a loving and happy marriage.
“His behaviour meant that (the girlfriend) no longer resides at the family home, and she has been taken into care as a result of what has happened. He misses his family very deeply.”
Passing sentence Judge Timothy Clayson told Ali: “Unbeknown to you one of your daughters had brought her boyfriend home and due to a combination of circumstances he stayed overnight. You heard some noises coming from what you thought was her room, so you went to her bedroom and saw them having sex.
“This enraged you and you chased (her boyfriend) out of the house picking up a hammer and following him to hit him on the back of the head and once he had left the property you returned to attack your daughter by hitting her and dragging her by her hair.
“You could have killed (her boyfriend) and it is through no design of your own that you did not. It is incredibly fortunate that he wasn’t seriously injured.
“As far as your daughter is concerned, that is a serious offence of its type. She is your daughter and she should have been able to regard her own home as a place of safety. You assaulted her and she was so frightened of you she wet herself.
“You have been a hard working man, with a stable marriage and your children living at home. Whilst I accept that you feel some genuine remorse for what you did, what you did was wholly unacceptable. There are no grounds to suspend this sentence, it would be unjust and too lenient.”
Ali was also banned from contacting his daughter for three years under the terms of a restraining order.
Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) have arrested two principal suspects allegedly involved in the killing of 16 travellers in Uromi, Esan North-East Local Government Area of Edo State last week.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Friday Ituah, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, confirming that the suspects were apprehended in Uromi town following credible intelligence.
According to Ituah, operatives from various security agencies are actively hunting for other key suspects linked to the tragic incident. He further revealed that the two arrested suspects have been transferred to Abuja for further interrogation and prosecution by the relevant authorities.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, paid a condolence visit to Kano State, where he revealed that 14 suspects had already been arrested in connection with the killings and were also to be moved to Abuja for further questioning.
During his visit, Governor Okpebholo expressed deep sorrow over the incident and assured the victims’ families that justice would be served. He reiterated his administration’s commitment to ensuring that those responsible for the heinous act would be brought to book.
Also, the governor pledged that adequate compensation would be provided to the bereaved families as part of efforts to mitigate their suffering.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has rearrested Friday Audu, the alleged mastermind of a massive cryptocurrency investment fraud and romance scam, just moments after he was granted bail by a Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos.
In a dramatic turn of events, EFCC operatives intercepted Audu as he stepped out of the court premises on Thursday. The anti-graft officers swiftly bundled him into a waiting white van and whisked him away, while his co-defendants were led off by correctional officers.
Audu, alongside two Chinese nationals, Huang Haoyu and An Hongxu, as well as their company, Genting International Ltd, is facing a 12-count charge bordering on cybercrime. The trio was arraigned before Justice Daniel Osiagor on Monday, March 17, and returned to court on March 20 for their bail hearing.
Despite being granted bail, Audu’s troubles deepened as EFCC officials moved in swiftly. The court had granted him bail in the sum of N50 million, with two sureties—one being a serving director in Nigeria, and the other a Lagos-based property owner willing to surrender title documents to the court. Until these conditions are met, Audu was to remain in correctional custody.
However, his alleged accomplice, Huang Haoyu, was not as fortunate. The court denied his bail application, ruling that his residence status in Nigeria was unclear and that he posed a flight risk. The third defendant, An Hongxu, did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody.
Justice Osiagor adjourned the trial to May 2, 2025.
How It All Started
The EFCC’s case against Audu and his co-defendants stems from a December 2024 sting operation that led to the arrest of 193 foreigners and several Nigerians linked to a sophisticated cyber-fraud network.
According to the prosecution, Audu allegedly spearheaded the recruitment of young Nigerians into the syndicate, which engaged in cyber fraud, cryptocurrency scams, and illicit financial dealings. The EFCC further alleged that the group conspired with one Dualiang Pan (still at large) to access computer systems designed to destabilize Nigeria’s economic and social structure.
The defendants were accused of using young Nigerians to impersonate foreign nationals in online scams, defrauding unsuspecting victims of millions of dollars. Investigators also linked them to a staggering ₦3.4 billion fraud, with proceeds traced to the Union Bank account of Genting International Ltd.
Other fraudulent transactions flagged in the case include:
- The illegal retention of $1.2 million in a crypto wallet by one Chukwuemeka Okeke.
- A similar retention of $1.3 million by Alhassan Garba and Ifesinachi Jacobs.
- Suspicious transfers of ₦106 million and ₦913 million to an account controlled by Dualiang Pan.
- Unofficial foreign exchange dealings worth over ₦2 billion, allegedly conducted outside the Central Bank of Nigeria’s approved system.
The EFCC maintained that these activities violated multiple provisions of the Cybercrime (Prohibition) Act 2015, the Money Laundering Act 2021, and the Foreign Exchange Monitoring Act 2004.
Battle for Bail
During Thursday’s proceedings, EFCC prosecutor Bilikisu Buhari-Bala opposed bail for the defendants, arguing that they were flight risks and key players in an extensive cybercrime syndicate. She pressed for an accelerated trial instead.
Defense counsels, however, pleaded for leniency. Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Emeka Okpoko, representing the first defendant, urged the court to grant his client bail on “liberal terms.” Similarly, Clement Onwuenwunor (SAN), who represented Audu, pushed for his client’s release under favorable conditions.
Despite the court’s decision to grant Audu bail, his freedom was short-lived as EFCC officials quickly stepped in to rearrest him, a move that hints at fresh charges or an ongoing investigation.
With the case now set for trial on May 2, all eyes remain on the EFCC and the fate of the alleged crypto fraud syndicate.
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested the Accountant General of Bauchi State, Sirajo Jaja, over an alleged ₦70 billion fraud.
Jaja was apprehended in Abuja on Wednesday, 19 March 2025, alongside Aliyu Abubakar, an operator of Jasfad Resources Enterprise—an unlicensed bureau de change (BDC)—and Sunusi Ibrahim Sambo, a Point of Sale (PoS) operator.
Their arrests form part of an ongoing EFCC investigation into allegations of money laundering, diversion of public funds, and misappropriation involving the staggering sum.
The Commission is also probing the Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, in connection with the matter.
According to the EFCC, preliminary findings indicate that a total of ₦59 billion was withdrawn in cash through various bank accounts managed by the Accountant General on behalf of the state government. The funds were allegedly transferred to Abubakar and Sambo, who then made cash payments to political party agents and associates of the governor.
Notably, Abubakar, the BDC operator, had previously absconded while on bail but has now been rearrested.
EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, confirmed the arrests, stating that investigations are ongoing to unravel the full extent of the financial misconduct.
