A British fitness-obsessed man had his daughter sign a lifelong ‘contract’ and promised never to get fat – and weighed her almost daily while first ruling his family with an iron, according to a report.
Hyde News & Pictures reports Rachid Khadla, 56, is facing charges of child abuse and assault due to his alleged treatment of his now adult daughter, Amira, and sons, Hicham and Karim.
“I, Amira Khadla, will never let myself get fat. I will do a lot of exercise to make sure I never get fat, even until I die, ‘Khadla’s daughter wrote in her 2012 agreement, a court heard.
Amira’s domineering father also allegedly assaulted her – regularly spanked her, beat her in the chest and even threw a chair at her once – and decided what she could wear, who she could see and what she could watch on TV , according to the news agency.
The fitness fanatic, from Windsor just outside London, was always consumed by the perimeter of his children and would weigh them to make sure they did not pack the pounds.
He also strangled his now 18-year-old son and spoon-fed the children if he believed they had misbehaved, the court heard on Tuesday.
Khadla’s 27-year-old wife, Sarah, did not intervene in the abuse, but supported his prosecution, saying he had a “quick temper”, according to the report.
The father was apparently “aggravated” by his younger son, Hicham, who had learning difficulties. In October 2019, he allegedly attacked the boy because he was too slow when he cleaned his sister’s room.
“He punched Hicham in the chest a number of times and then pushed him onto his sister’s bed,” prosecutor Alex Krikler said.
“Then he put both hands around his neck and strangled him for some time – five to ten seconds – before pulling him up, hitting him on the chest and walking away,” he said. ‘Hicham tried to say’ stop ‘but could not speak.
“He could not breathe, and although the marks left by the strangulation were relatively small, the incident was extremely frightening,” Krikler added.
Hicham told his mother the next day that his father had ‘crossed a line’, and then shared his ordeal with schoolmates while the family celebrated his sister’s university studies.
The boys told their teachers what Hicham had told them, and the staff informed the police who arrested Khadla that evening.
“For the smallest offenses at home, he said he would regularly ‘get the spoon,'” Krikler told the jury.
“His father made him stick out his hands and beat the palms with a wooden spoon. “He also described how his father would push and hit him and occasionally throw things at him,” he said.
“The abuse was not just physical. The accused will also threaten extreme violence, that he ‘will splash his brain over the ceiling and kill him’. His father would tell him he was weak, “Krikler added.
The older boy, Karim, now 26, talks about “the control, the mood and the violence” – and is hit so hard in the head when he was 15 that it knocked him over.
Karim left home and severed all ties with the family before the allegations surfaced.
Krikler said the mother ‘describes the control he exercised over the family and how he was in a quick mood and would get angry for no reason. The anger she describes as the direction of the children. ”
Khadla claims that he attacked Hicham in ‘self-defense’ and said he was afraid of his angry son, and he tried to restrain him.
“When asked how he would discipline his children, he said that if they were younger, they would hit them down, but otherwise he said he had never beaten or physically disciplined them,” Kirkler said.
“He denied threatening his children or physically harming them, saying he sometimes screamed, but that was it. He denied that he controlled his children. ”
Khadla faces three counts of child abuse and two counts of assault causing actual bodily harm.