'Broken' Leeds dad desperate to see son locked up for posting cash through ex's letterbox
A “broken” dad banned from contacting his ex partner posted envelopes filled with cash through her letterbox for their son, and was locked up on remand.
The restraining order prohibited Adel Bougatfa being anywhere near the woman’s Rothwell address, leading to him being arrested and held for nearly two months.
The tearful 32-year-old was handed a suspended sentence at Leeds Crown Court this week, ordered to obey the order and told if he wanted access to his son he needed to pursue it through the family courts.
Prosecutor Ashleigh Metcalfe said Bougatfa and the woman had been in a relationship for six years and had their four-year-old son. The relationship came to an end in April of last year, which the court heard was due to Bougatfa’s drug use.
He was then convicted in February this year of harassing his ex and the restraining order put in place. But he refused to leave her alone, bombarding her with emails, some flattering her, some threatening and abusive calling her a “b****”, Ms Metcalfe said.
He also contacted social services about their son, and began placing varying amounts of cash through the woman’s door, including £470, £100, £60 and even £1,000. One note he left read: “I beg you, I want to see my son”.
At one point she spotted him in her garden, sniffing their son’s T-shirt on the washing line.
Bougatfa, of Cross Flatts Drive, Beeston, was arrested in September and later admitted harassment and breach of the restraining order. He has just the one previous conviction from the harassment issue earlier this year.
He was not represented in court but tearfully explained to the judge that he was simply missing his son.
Judge Richard Mansell KC accepted he had “good intentions” in giving his son the money but said it was putting him in breach.
He added: “It seems to me you are a broken man from the breakdown of your relationship, the loss of contact with your son and that you are in prison for the first time in your life.”
He gave him a six-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, and gave him a new restraining order to last three years.