A VIOLENT and controlling man who repeatedly attacked his former partner and threatened to kill her has been jailed for two years and three months.

Eduard Stefka called the woman “a Pakistani whore,” punched and slapped her and made cut throat gestures outside her place of work, Bradford Crown Court heard on Wednesday.

He repeatedly ignored a restraining order imposed by Bradford and Keighley Magistrates Court on January 15 last year that barred him from contacting her or going to her home after their relationship broke down.

Stefka, 39, a car wash labourer, of Leeds Old Road, Bradford, pleaded guilty to four breaches of the order, between February 22, 2018, and August 13. He also admitted racially aggravated assault and criminal damage to the complainant’s front door.

The court heard that Stefka waited outside the woman’s workplace in the dark on February 22. When he followed her, she pulled out her phone to call a friend for help but Stefka grabbed at it, called her “a Pakistani whore” and slapped her hard across the face.

Arrested and bailed, he struck again on April 24, making cut throat gestures outside her place of work and later banging and kicking at her front door shouting that he was going to kill the woman and her friend.

He was aggressive and abusive to the police when arrested the next day and he denied all the offences.

Bailed again, he pestered the woman with phone calls on July 19 before approaching her in the street, punching her and threatening to kill her.

When she locked herself in her friend’s home, Stefka rattled the door and shouted through the letterbox that he would kill them both.

He denied the offence and was bailed again, the court was told.

On August 13, police went to his home after the woman’s friend feared she had been kidnapped.

She told officers she was voluntarily at the address, saying she had nowhere else to live.

Kate Bisset, Stefka’s barrister, said he accepted that the relationship was over and he had no desire to see the complainant again.

He had a single previous conviction for battery, dating from 2014.

Stefka had been held in custody since October, the equivalent of serving an eight month prison sentence.

The probation service felt that, with their intervention, he could be a constructive member of society again.

“A suspended sentence would allow him to demonstrate his commitment to avoiding the complainant,” Miss Bisset said.

But Judge Neil Davey QC said Stefka had repeatedly breached the restraining order and committed most of the offences while on bail.

“Men must understand that if they choose to use violence towards women and attempt to control and coerce their behaviour, particularly in breach of a court order, the only proper sentence is one of imprisonment,” he said.