Man who abused his wife for years avoids jail

Kahn Johns (22) married the victim in 2016 and abused her until 2018 when the couple, who had moved from Bristol to Cambridge together that year, eventually split.

Over the course of their relationship Johns subjected the victim to coercive and controlling behaviour, including:

• Sending her abusive text messages and videos. The victim was told that if she wanted to be ‘forgiven’ she would have to perform sexual acts.

• Repeatedly breaking her glasses. The victim had a strong prescription that could only be supplied from Japan and cost around £200 to replace; in total, Johns broke her glasses five times, making her pay for a new pair each time.

• Ripping up a passport she had got for a job interview in May 2017 and then sending her a video of him doing it.

• Smashing her Apple MacBook in November 2017. This meant the victim had to buy a replacement and rewrite a Masters dissertation which could not be retrieved from the device. In total, Johns smashed her iPad, three laptops and seven phones, rarely contributing to the cost of replacements.

• Smashing mugs on the floor and telling the victim to clean them up. He then pushed her into the wall and slapped her face which caused her glasses to crack. Towards the end of the relationship he stopped apologising for the abuse and blamed the victim instead, saying it was her fault.

On the morning of November 5, 2018, the victim woke up to find Johns standing over her bed. He told her he was leaving and did not love her.

At Cambridge Crown Court on September 27 Johns pleaded guilty to coercive and controlling behaviour. On Friday, at the same court, he was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years. He was also given a restraining order not to contact the victim until further notice.

DC Paul Evans, who investigated, said: “The victim was bullied and abused by her husband because of his unjustified paranoia that she was seeing someone else.

“Johns was everything a partner should not be. For years he subjected the victim to mental and physical hell knowing she had left her family behind in another country to be with him.”

Police would strongly urge anyone who is a victim of domestic abuse to contact police on 101 or call the national domestic violence helpline on 0808 2000 247. For more advice and support on domestic abuse, visit www.cambs.police.uk/domesticabuse.