THE first Oxfordshire man charged under a new ‘intentional strangulation’ law was cleared – when his alleged victim failed to turn up to court.

Alex Ninescu, 32, was alleged by prosecutors to have placed his hands around his pregnant wife’s throat at their home in Bicester on June 14.

The defendant said he was acting in self-defence to hold back his wife, who he claimed would ‘often lose her temper’ and push him, and prevent himself from being assaulted.

Police were alerted to the alleged incident by a neighbour. The wife gave an initial statement but later retracted it and withdrew her support for the prosecution. In July, she asked for her husband’s bail conditions to be lifted so he could attend the birth of the couple’s second child, although the magistrates refused as the police, prosecution service and an independent domestic abuse adviser objected.

Despite being served with a witness summons requiring her to attend court or face arrest, the complainant, who was said to be breastfeeding the couple’s eight-week-old baby, was not present for the trial on Wednesday morning.

The court was read an email from the alleged victim, sent to the court the day before the trial, in which she said she would be taking her baby to get her jabs on the morning of the trial.

“I don’t want to support the case,” she added and said her husband had used ‘reasonable force’ against her. She wrote that there were ‘no concerns’ for the safety of her or her family.

Prosecutor Fred Sagoe asked the magistrates to adjourn the trial ‘for as long as possible’, so the complainant could attend court on the next occasion. Officer in the case PC Liam Singleton told the court it was Thames Valley Police’s view she was ‘under great risk’ and the email was ‘typical [of a] domestic violence victim’.

The application to adjourn was opposed by Ninescu’s solicitor. India Ferris said: “The complainant has shown she will come to court if she wants to, because she came for the bail application.

“She is a witness who doesn’t want to come [to give evidence] and she is allowed not to come.”

The defendant, who had been bailed to live in Banbury, was said to have continued to support his wife and children financially. A cousin had arranged for him to see the children regularly.

The magistrates refused the application to adjourn the trial. Chairman of the bench Anna Haynes said: “Our starting point is that the trial should proceed today and it is essential for us to deal with this matter justly and expeditiously.

“The bench is of the view the complainant indicated in her withdrawal statement of June 25 she did not support these proceedings. Further, she attended a court hearing asking for the bail conditions to be lifted on July 5.

“Therefore, the CPS should have issued a witness summons at a much earlier stage, in our view.

“For these reasons we do not feel it is in the interest of speedy justice to adjourn is matter and so we direct the trial should proceed today.”

Mr Sagoe said: “In those circumstances, I have no evidence to put before the court.”

The charge was dismissed and Ninescu, of South Barr Street, Banbury, formally acquitted.

Speaking outside court, the dad-of-two urged caution on those investigating alleged domestic violence cases – stressing that men could be victims too.

“It seems I am not the only one in this predicament and other men are going through this also,” he said.

“It seems there are very many stereotypes and when they heard ‘domestic violence’, the man is responsible for this.

“You shouldn’t treat each and every individual case by the [stereotypes].”

Read more from this author

This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward