Oxford martial arts expert threatened new mum, court hears

Christopher Isichei, 51, who held down jobs as a bus driver and doorman, issued the threat in a stream of vile messages sent to the breastfeeding mum in early 2021.

In a victim personal statement read to the court by prosecutor Robert Colover, the defendant’s ex-partner said she had struggled to sleep, ‘constantly on edge’ and felt she was ‘constantly being watched’.

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She described his decision to wait until the day of his trial to admit his wrongdoing as ‘cruel’.

Isichei would later tell detectives who interviewed him after the harassment came to light that he had never planned to carry out the promised acid attack, claiming that ‘deep down’ she knew that.

Sentencing him to 16 months’ imprisonment suspended for a year and a half, Judge Nigel Daly told the defendant on Wednesday (September 20): “You have recognised that the contact with your ex-partner was ‘horrible’, in your words. It was.

“It’s more than just horrible. It was often terrifying.”

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Earlier, the court heard that by early 2021, Isichei and his victim’s relationship had broken down and the couple had split.

While pregnant with his child, the woman found out the defendant had been unfaithful – and was expecting a baby with another woman.

However, she maintained contact with her former partner in the hope that their child would have a father-figure in his life.

Isichei began sending his vile messages in around February 2021, repeatedly calling her unpleasant names and describing her, bizarrely, as a ‘public toilet’.

He asked her if she thought he was ‘worried about the police’. “Do you think you can scare me with them?” he said.

The defendant threatened to ‘strip her naked’, warned that he would ‘shower’ her in acid and said he would ‘close’ her ‘big mouth’ with acid.

“You are dead meat,” he told her.

Prosecuting, Mr Colover said: “These are, the Crown would say, absolutely appalling, horrific messages, designed to cause fear and extending over a period of three months.”

The victim catalogued the emotional impact of the harassment, detailing sleepless nights interrupted by the sight of Isichei’s phone messages at odd hours in the morning.

Isichei, of Celandine Place, Greater Leys, pleaded guilty on the day of his trial to harassment putting his victim in fear of violence, with other allegations not pursued by the prosecution. He had no previous convictions.

Mitigating, Laban Leake cited a number of positive character references that spoke of a very different man to that revealed in the text messages.

“This was totally out of character,” the barrister said.

Born in Nigeria, he had paid his own way through school and university. He held down two jobs and had won world and UK titles in a martial art, understood to be a form of wrestling called grappling. He sent money home to support relatives in Nigeria, the court heard.

As part of his suspended sentence, Isichei must do 100 hours of unpaid work, up to 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days and pay £1,000 to the Crown Prosecution Service in costs. A restraining order limits his contact with his ex-partner.