A MUSLIM father has avoided jail despite pulling a knife on his teenage daughter for "shaming him" by letting a male friend stay overnight in her bed.

Sheriff Valerie Johnston said her "instinct" had been to send Regime Ahmmad to prison, but said her hands were tied in how long she could jail him for.

She said Ahmmad would be "released in a very short period of time due to the system that operates" and that offered little protection to his daughter Shyvonne, 18.

Ahmmad was found guilty of threatening to kill the teenager for "shaming him" by inviting a male friend to stay overnight with her at her home.

The 49-year-old berated his daughter and said he was worried what his relatives and the community would think of her behaviour.

Shyvonne Ahmmad told Perth Sheriff Court her father pulled a knife out from under a pillow while giving her a lecture about the way she should behave. She said he berated her for allowing friend Matthew Davidson to sleep in her bed, even although it was her mother's home and her mother permitted the arrangement.

She said: "He began talking about me being a Muslim and how I should be one. I was kind of shocked. My father said a woman shouldn't share a bed with a man they are not married to.

"I said I should be allowed to do what my mum allowed us to do.

"After that there was a continuation of what he had been saying another time about how I shouldn't show my legs - After he showed the knife there was about half-a-minute's conversation and then I ran out of the room.

"He said I was supposed to be a Muslim and if I wasn't he would kill me and then kill himself. I didn't want to argue with him because he had a knife. He has always been very vocal. He would say he would chop my legs off and things like that."

After the incident she went to the home of neighbour Shirin Sharokli-Moghadam, 29, who said Miss Ahmmad was crying and continued shaking for an hour.

Ahmmad's former wife Georgina Ahmmad, 54, said the accused was staying with the family when the incident took place. She said: "He did want her to be Muslim, but she wasn't willing. He has a belief in his religion that there is black magic." The court was told that Ahmmad also spoke of "evil spirits".

Ahmmad, of Perth, told the court he kept a knife to ward off "demons" which pursued him. He was awaiting someone from Egypt to exorcise him.

He was found guilty of presenting a knife to his daughter and threatening to kill her in Perth in May last year.

Sheriff Johnston said: "I found this quite a disturbing case.

"I have concern for his daughter from the way he presented to her."

She told Ahmmad: "My instinct tells me I should be sending you to prison, but sending you to prison, given the limited powers I have and the fact you would be released in a very short period of time due to the system that operates, wouldn't protect your daughter from any repetition in a satisfactory way.

"You assaulted your daughter, presented a knife at her and terrorised her so much she ran from the house shaking in fear.

"That's not acceptable, particularly for a father."

She placed Ahmmad on a community payback order for two years.