A Turkish barber who made sinister threats to his wife despite being sent on a course on how to treat Scottish women has been ordered to complete another domestic abuse programme.
Fecri Konu admitted continuing to harass his Scottish wife a decade after a sheriff sent him away to learn how to behave towards British females.
Konu, 35, of Alexandra Street, Perth, has now been ordered to stay away from his wife for the next two years.
He was also ordered to carry out 200 hours’ unpaid community work and told to attend another course for domestic abusers, the Caledonian Men’s programme.
Konu admitted repeatedly threatening his wife with violence and placing her and a friend, in a state of fear or alarm at an address in Perth, on October 6.
Accused thrown out of home
Fiscal depute Stuart Hamilton told Perth Sheriff Court Konu’s wife had ejected her husband from their home.
“They have been married for about ten years.
“She packed the accused’s belongings and placed them in the garden.
“She advised him by text message that the relationship had broken down, it was over and that his belongings were outside.”
Konu turned up and banged the door while shouting: “I’m going to f**k you up.
“I’m going to make your life hell. You wait and see what I’m going to do.”
He spoke to her on the phone and was unaware her friend was recording the call as he threatened to slit his wife’s throat because she accused him of cheating on her.
Police were called and found her in a “scared and anxious” state.
The accused told police: “It was just an argument. I was talking to my wife.”
Solicitor Billy Somerville, defending, said: “Perhaps he doesn’t understand fully the effects of this type of behaviour.”
Previous attempts to rehabilitate
In 2012, Konu was ordered to undergo social work supervision to address his cultural beliefs after pulling a knife on his Scottish wife for being “disrespectful” towards him.
Konu was told to change his attitude to Scottish women after confronting his wife when she was too busy working to join him for breakfast.
A sheriff ordered him to spend a year working with social workers after accepting the confrontation was sparked by “cultural differences” between Turkey and Scotland.
When officers from Tayside Police quizzed him about using the knife, Konu stated: “That’s what happens in a marriage.”
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said he accepted the incident was not a “domestic assault” in the traditional sense but was due to the couple’s different views of their roles.
Sheriff Foulis said: “It strikes me this is crying out for a supervision requirement, so someone can sit down with the accused and explain over a period… that he is in the UK and there are certain norms of behaviour which you may find strange or alien.
“If that isn’t done it would not surprise me if he again finds himself in a situation where something occurs that he takes offence to which his wife finds perfectly normal.”
Konu admitted breaching the peace on that occasion by shouting and swearing at a business in Perth.
He avoided a jail term again in 2019 when he admitted subjecting his wife to another tirade of abuse.
He was ordered to carry out 150 hours’ unpaid work in that case.
