A TEENAGE victim of domestic violence has spoken about her ordeal at the hands of her councillor husband.

Binish Karamet welcomed Liberal Democrat Imran Abrahim's guilty verdict for common assault when he was tried at Waltham Forest Magistrates Court.

Speaking through an interpreter after the case, the 19-year-old said: "I feel very relieved that this is over. I want to stay in England because I want to encourage women to fight for their rights because people like my husband never change.

"I am disappointed he is a councillor because he can help make the lives of others better, but he beat me and made mine hell.

"When I think back to what he did to me I cry because I have a one-year-old daughter with him, but I want to put this behind me and rebuild my life."

She said she was now living with a relative elsewhere in London.

Ms Karamet added that she became so depressed she drank a bottle of bleach and when Abrahim found out, he demanded that she tell doctors she misunderstood what the bottle's label said because her English was poor.

"He used to tell me I am a councillor I can cut you up and feed you to the dogs' and I believed him," she said.

She said she was prevented from leaving their home in Knotts Green Road, Leyton, and was banned from contacting her family in Pakistan or relatives living in Britain.

"I was so scared of him I was too afraid to eat but because I wasn't allowed outside, nobody could see I had lost a lot of weight," she said.

The police became aware of her ordeal after she managed to contact a relative living in London who dialled 999.

"I want to thank the police for taking me seriously and the Active Change Foundation (ACF) who have been so supportive," she said.

Ms Karamet was speaking at a meeting held by the ACF for Muslim women to give them an opportunity to air issues that affect them, either first or second hand. On the agenda were domestic violence, drugs and gang culture.

The ACF works with young people to help keep them out of trouble while on the streets.

Abrahim, a 31-year-old member for Forest ward, will be sentenced next Thursday, April 10, at Stratford Magistrates Court.