Rachid Khadla, 56, from Windsor, Berkshire, denies three counts of cruelty to children and two of assault that caused real bodily harm
A fitness fanatic father, who made his daughter sign a “contract” promising to never put on weight, also hit his son more than 100 times with a wooden spoon before trying to strangle him, heard a court.
Rachid Khadla, 56, from Windsor, Berkshire, was on the dock with his head down while his youngest son, Hicham Khadla, told horrible stories about his upbringing.
The aspiring police officer, now 18, told the jury that his father had condemned him as ‘weak’ and said he was beaten with a kitchen utensil more than 100 times as a child – starting when he was just seven years old.
Hicham explained to the jury that he had been “hit all his life” but only told his best friends and teachers at school when he thought he was going to die after his father strangled him.
It happens after Khadla’s daughter, Amira, now 23, told Reading Crown Court how her ‘controlling’ father decided what she could wear, who she could see, who she could talk to and what she could watch on. TV.
She claims that he also made her sign a lifetime “contract” promising never to put on weight and claims that he weighed her daily.
Rachid Khadla denies three counts of cruelty to children and two of aggression that caused real physical damage.
Hicham Khadla, now 18, (left) told the jury that his father beat him with a kitchen utensil more than 100 times when he was a child. It happens after Khadla’s daughter, Amira, now 23, (right) claimed that her father decided what she could wear and what to watch on television.
Hicham, then a student at the Windsor Boys School, said to the court: ‘Once he hit me with a spoonful of spaghetti. The tips of the spoon cut into my ear and it started to bleed.
‘When I was very young, between five and seven years old, if I woke up playing with toys and I shouldn’t have, he would come into my room and bring the spoon.’
Hicham explained to the jury that he had been “hit all his life” but only told his best friends and teachers at school when he thought he was going to die after his father strangled him.
“I felt I was dying, I felt that my family was a threat to life,” he said.
Explaining the final attack on October 16, 2019, Hicham said: ‘My dad was sitting making a meal, I had to do a Hoover before dark so I could see the dirt. He told me to go faster, I wasn’t going fast.
“He dropped the food tray and followed me. He hit me in the chest, pushed me into my sister’s bed and started strangling me – he had never strangled me before. There was a handprint and scratches.
‘I couldn’t breathe at all, I thought I was dying and I tried to stop him. After about five seconds he stopped, he pushed me back to my feet, hit me a few more times and then I continued with the tasks. I was very scared and traumatized. ‘
Khadla is facing charges of cruelty to children and aggression for the treatment he gave to his now-grown daughter Amira and sons Hicham and Karim. In the photo (from left to right): Hicham, Amira, his mother Sarah and Karim
The next day, Hicham asked to meet his best friends, Tyler Cahill and Oliver Howles, in the school cafeteria where the student opened the top button and showed the purple strangulation marks on his neck.
The trio went straight to the head in the sixth form and revealed details of the attack.
Later that night, Hicham’s father was arrested on suspicion of assault.
Returning to the witness stand, Mr. Cahill remembered the one time he met Hicham’s father.
He said: ‘We were taking food and we saw Hicham’s father returning from the leisure center by bicycle.
‘Hicham panicked, visibly trembled and tried to hide behind a wall. As soon as he knew it was inevitable that his father had seen him, he struggled to find something to say, he was afraid.
‘Hicham was very concerned about going home that day. He was very concerned about what was going to happen. We didn’t know the full reason, ‘the 18-year-old told the jury at Reading Crown Court.
Hicham (left) explained to the jury that he had been ‘hit his whole life’ and Amira (right) claims that her father made her sign a lifetime ‘contract’ promising never to put on weight
Mr Howles said from the witness stand: ‘Hicham managed to make up a lie, he said we had to say that we were going to an educational event in Eton. The next day, he told us that his father was angry with him for going out and wanted evidence that he really was going to an event.
‘We made a fake email and sent it to his mother, who showed her father’ proof ‘that we had been to the educational event.’
During the interrogation, the court heard about the defendant’s ‘outbursts of anger’.
The teenager told the jury: ‘We were eating Moroccan food, but I was eating wrong. I was eating with a spoon and he wanted me to eat with my hands. He told me to “eat right”.
‘He grabbed me from the chair and I tripped and flew back towards the kitchen cupboard. I was scared and anxious.
‘He called me’ slow ‘, he beat my confidence in aspiring to be a policeman, he called me weak. He got angry so easily, I always froze.
‘Once he hit me on the head with a hairbrush because I was combing my hair, I was not allowed to do that.’
Yesterday, Khadla’s daughter Amira told the Reading Crown Court (photo) about her ‘controlling’ father
Defending Khadla against strangulation charges, Philip Rowlands said the student was desperate to attend his older sister’s graduation, but when his father explained that there were only two tickets, the student was irritated and became aggressive.
– You attacked him, not the other way around. You went to punch your father in the face and hit him in the arm instead. You went to kick your father with the right foot, ‘he claimed.
– You were so aggressive that he had to restrain you, that he fell back on the bed.
– Your father grabbed your chest to prevent you from hitting him, you were struggling from side to side and in no time he strangled you.
– The three of you decided to lie about your father. You put your heads together to make claims about him. You wanted your father out of the house.
The teenager replied: ‘The only reason I wanted him out of the house was because he was a danger.’
Yesterday, Khadla’s daughter, Amira, told the court about how her ‘controlling’ father decided what she could wear, who she could see, who she could talk to and what she could watch on television.
The body-obsessed defendant – who was’ very aware ‘of fitness and diet – would have made his daughter sign a document that read:’ I, Amira Khadla, will never let myself get fat. I will do a lot of exercises to make sure I never get fat, even before I die. ‘
She also said that Khadla beat her with a spoon regularly, punched her arms and chest and even threw a chair at her when she was nine – leaving a lump behind her ear.
The eldest son, Karim – who broke ties with the whole family because of the alleged cruelty he received as a child – says that Khadla punched him so hard in the head that he fell at the age of 15.
Rachid Khadla denies three counts of cruelty to children and two of assault that caused real bodily harm.