London: An Indian-origin man has been jailed for six months for beating his wife and a five-year-old child at their home in west London, months after he won a 70,000 pounds lottery which he had promised to use for his family.
30-year-old Balvinder Malhotra had bagged 70,000 pounds in a lottery win in January this year and vowed to use the money to make 2016 a “great year for his family”.
However, a few months later in June he punched his wife Hardeep Kaur three times and also smacked a five-year-old child in the face during a picnic party at their home.
“These are significant injuries. This crosses the custody threshold by a mile,” District Judge Debbie Wright told him at Uxbridge Magistrates Court last week.
The court was told Malhotra suffered from alcohol problems and had previously given his mother a bloody nose during a row.
Malhotra, who has been living with his parents since the attack on his 28-year-old wife, was convicted of gross bodily harm (GBH), jailed for six months and ordered to pay his two victims 1,000 pounds each.
Soon after the lottery win in January, the couple had posed together spraying a bottle of champagne into the air to celebrate.
At the time, he said: “When I told my wife she burst into tears of joy. I used to have a shop but we lost this when big retailers moved in. This win will give me the boost I need. Looks like 2016 is going to be a great year for our little family.”
After the attack in June, Malhotra used his winnings to buy a new corner-shop in a bid to turn his life around after going bankrupt in 2011.
PTI