Abusive husband given suspended sentence after threat to kill wife

An abusive husband has been spared an immediate prison sentence after threatening to kill his wife after their 13-year marriage broke down.

Kirill Dodukh, 40, of Rochester Street, Brighton, was given a 22-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and served with a five-year restraining order.

Alec Williams, prosecuting, told Hove Crown Court that the police had been called to a previous incident involving Dodukh although he wasn’t prosecuted.

Matters came to a head, Mr Williams said, in August last year when Dodukh called Natali Gigaari late one Thursday afternoon.

He called her a stupid bitch in Russian, their native language, and shouted at her down the phone.

Mr Williams said that he shouted: “If you keep acting like this, I am going to kill you.

“I will break your legs and your arms. I will put the phone in your mouth and make you swallow it.”

The barrister added: “It sounded to her as though the defendant may have been drinking.

“The conversation continued for about five minutes. The call was recorded. It was in Russian.

“The call was made in the presence of their son who speaks Russian and was able to understand what was said.”

He read a victim impact statement from Miss Gigaari, of Hereford Street, Brighton, who said: “I feel very unsafe because of the threats my husband made to me.

“I feel I have to be on guard and looking around all the time. I am experiencing overwhelming felings.

“I fear my own life and safety and I am concerned for my children’s wellbeing.

“I am now looking for housing in a completely different part of the city.

“We can no longer to our local park. This has taken away an enormous part of our life.”

Sarah Thorne, defending, said: “He is absolutely ashamed and mortified by the position that he put his wife and son in on that day. It is absolutely appalling and there is no excuse for it.

“There are considerable mitigating factors. This man has lived all his life without any previous convictions.

“He is remorseful. He has tried to take steps to address his behaviour. He has stopped drinking.

“He doesn’t accept that he had been drinking when he spoke to her on the telephone – he was drinking afterwards.”

Dodukh, who had uprooted his life from the country where he was born and raised, pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, the court was told.

Miss Thorne said that he had worked in banking and finance in Russia but had not been able to replicate his success since coming to Britain.

She added: “Unfortunately, for reasons outside his control, he was not able to be as successful in his new life as he would like to have been.

“He started drinking more and it became a vicious cycle in the way that this man of previously impeccable character treated his wife.

“The two people who will be most greatly affected by this are his two sons. He has provided a very poor example to them.”

Judge Christine Henson said: “You have pleaded guilty to a threat to kill. You were in a relationship of over 13 years which had ended.

“This is the first matter that has involved a prosecution of you.”

Judge Henson said that, during the phone call to his wife, he had made “the most vile threats, witnessed by your son”.

She said: “You should be ashamed of your behaviour.

“It is your first conviction and that is something that I have taken into account.

“The fair and just sentence … is to suspend the custodial term that I impose today – 22 months suspended for 24 months. If you don’t comply with this order, I will activate this sentence.”

He was ordered to do 140 hours of unpaid work and attend a specific programme of 25 rehabilitation sessions and a further 10 days of rehabilitation activity.

The judge imposed a restraining order for five years to protect Mrs Gigaari and warned Dodukh that if he breached it, he could face up to five years in prison.