During that time, the father could reasonably be expected to have gathered that hitting members of your immediate family is not only frowned upon in this country, it’s usually illegal. The judge concluded that the man had subjected his wife to a “horribly aggressive and violent assault”, when he attempted to strangle her. This had “worried, even terrified” the boy, but she did not believe it was so punitively harsh to merit the term physical abuse. “Proper allowance must be made for what is almost certainly a different cultural context,” said Mrs Justice Pauffley.