View Full Version : 9 years ago case :Asian Parents Murdered their Westernised teenage daughter
bbfan1991
21-05-2012, 05:18 PM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-18144095
arista
22-05-2012, 07:15 AM
"A teenager was killed by her Pakistan-born parents because they believed her Westernised lifestyle had brought shame on the family, a court heard yesterday.
Nine years after their daughter Shafilea vanished, Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed have gone on trial accused of murder.
The court heard that police made a breakthrough in the case when Shafilea’s sister told them she saw them kill the 17-year-old.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2147559/Shafilea-Ahmed-Parents-murdered-teenage-daughter-conduct-bringing-shame-family.html#ixzz1va25PfMz
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/05/21/article-2147559-13360AD1000005DC-518_306x423.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/05/21/article-2147559-13341F44000005DC-909_306x546.jpg
This case has taken 9 years to get this far.
I hope it gets Concluded soon.
joeysteele
22-05-2012, 09:01 AM
This was on the news yesterday, I really hope justice is done at last. If it is the case the Parents did it then well done to the Sister for eventually speaking out about this.
Kizzy
22-05-2012, 10:24 AM
Yes she was a very brave young woman, I hope she will find some peace.
Niamh.
22-05-2012, 10:42 AM
wow, what a terrible story :/
arista
22-05-2012, 10:52 AM
wow, what a terrible story :/
I am glad the Brave Sister
has come forward as she watched the parents
kill her.
All she wanted was to be like all her mates
and the Evil Asian Parents killed her.
Kizzy
22-05-2012, 10:58 AM
I am glad the Brave Sister
has come forward as she watched the parents
kill her.
All she wanted was to be like all her mates
and the Evil Asian Parents killed her.
Not sure why you posted another link under the OP arista...Do we really need the daily mails perspective on this?..
Not sure why you posted another link under the OP arista...Do we really need the daily mails perspective on this?..
It's a duplicate thread that has been merged.
arista
22-05-2012, 11:11 AM
Not sure why you posted another link under the OP arista...Do we really need the daily mails perspective on this?..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/may/21/shafilea-ahmed-killing-chester-crown-court
Of Course Not Kizzy
here is another paper
Kizzy
22-05-2012, 11:14 AM
Ah, thanks omah :)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18161063
Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed are accused of killing their 17-year-old daughter at their Warrington home in 2003.
The murder was allegedly witnessed by Shafilea's younger sister Alesha, who kept the secret for seven years.
Mr Ahmed, 52, and his wife, 49, are on trial at Chester Crown Court where both deny murder.
Prosecutor Andrew Edis told the court: "She [Alesha] describes what is an act of suffocation by both her parents acting together."
He said they put their hands over her face "to close her airways so she could not breathe".
He added: "She had a bag forced into her mouth."
Mr Edis said Alesha, now 23, would later tell the court how she saw her parents in the kitchen of their home in Liverpool Road with bin bags and tape, wrapping the body up.
She then saw her father outside and heard a car driving off.
Mr Edis said: "She looked out of the window and saw her father with a large object wrapped in bin bags. She assumed that was the body of her sister."
The case continues .....
Kizzy
22-05-2012, 12:05 PM
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/may/21/shafilea-ahmed-killing-chester-crown-court
Of Course Not Kizzy
here is another paper
Cheers arista :)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18161066
The parents of schoolgirl Shafilea Ahmed physically abused her "every day" because they disapproved of her lifestyle, a court has heard.
Giving evidence at Chester Crown Court, their younger daughter Alesha, 23, said Shafilea lived "a secret life that she didn't want our parents to know about".
She said on one occasion her parents had threatened Shafilea with a knife.
Ms Ahmed, who is on witness protection and gave evidence from behind a screen, told the court the abuse was at its worst when their parents reacted to Shafilea having male friends.
On another occasion Shafilea was left in a room without food for several days. the jury was told.
The case continues .....
Mrluvaluva
22-05-2012, 06:14 PM
How could anyone kill their own child by suffocating them with a plastic bag? Absolutely appalling. Scum like this should never see the light of day again.
arista
22-05-2012, 06:32 PM
How could anyone kill their own child by suffocating them with a plastic bag? Absolutely appalling. Scum like this should never see the light of day again.
Simple
The Parents are not into
Western Ways.
They are Evil Asian Parents
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18174889
Schoolgirl Shafilea Ahmed drank bleach during a family trip to Pakistan after her mother told her she would not be returning to the UK, a court heard.
The 17-year-old went missing from her home in Warrington, Cheshire, in 2003 and was found dead six months later.
Her parents Iftikhar, 52, and Farzana Ahmed, 49, are on trial at Chester Crown Court where both deny murder.
Giving evidence, Alesha Ahmed said her elder sister was given marriage proposals while in Pakistan.
There were no actual wedding plans in place, she added.
Speaking from behind a curtain, Ms Ahmed, 23, told the court that during the trip her sister thought she would be kept there and had been unhappy.
She said: "My mum made a remark to Shafilea which I think was what triggered her into drinking bleach.
"She told Shafilea she would be staying in Pakistan and wouldn't be going back."
The witness added: "Shafilea went to the bathroom. Everyone just heard her screaming and shouting.
"We went outside and she was holding her stomach."
Asked about her mother's reaction, she said she had a "distant" look on her face before adding: "It was like she was thinking it's better she had done it herself."
Once Shafilea was in hospital, Ms Ahmed said their mother was angry because she had "made a scene".
She said her mother told Shafilea she should tell people it was a mistake, and that in the dark she had picked up the bleach instead of the mouthwash.
The witness said: "I remember saying to Shafilea that I couldn't believe she had drank bleach and that she had done that to herself.
"She said 'what else was I supposed to do?'."
The incident caused severe damage to Shafilea's throat and she was unable to eat properly for some months, Ms Ahmed said.
Ms Ahmed told the court that when Shafilea came home from Pakistan, she was in hospital in Warrington for three months and her weight was 5st (31kg).
The mother seems obsessed with keeping the truth from "outsiders" ..... :idc:
The court heard that when Shafilea came out of hospital, her parents told her she could not go back to Great Sankey High School because they believed that was where the "trouble" started.
Instead she was enrolled at the nearby Priestley Sixth Form College.
Ms Ahmed described how her sister had started agreeing more to her parents' demands on her and said the arguments became less frequent.
She said Shafilea took a part-time job after college and after a "week or two" had put on some weight.
But Ms Ahmed said more trouble started when their mother picked Shafilea up from work and she was wearing non-traditional clothes.
"She (Mrs Ahmed) was not happy about her being in a T-shirt," she said. "There was a car next to us which had Asian people in there and so she was not happy that someone had seen her like that."
Oh-oh, th'old biddy's not happy ..... :eek:
The sister of schoolgirl Shafilea Ahmed broke down in tears as she told a court how the schoolgirl gasped for air as their parents suffocated her.
She said: "My mum said to my dad, 'just finish it here'." She said her parents had used a plastic bag and held their hands over Shafilea's face.
Giving evidence, Shafilea's younger sister Alesha, now 23, said: "They put the plastic bag in her mouth then put their hands over."
The prosecutor Andrew Edis QC asked: "Could you see any part of her face?"
She replied: "Her eyes. They were open really wide... you could tell she was just gasping for air."
Mr Edis said: "Did a time come when she stopped struggling?"
Ms Ahmed replied: "Yes. That was it. She was gone."
When asked what her parents did, she said: "They carried on with their hands still on her mouth, even though she'd stopped struggling, for 15-30 seconds."
Horrific, if true ..... :eek:
joeysteele
23-05-2012, 10:57 PM
I find this case truly awful, I really feel for the other Daughter giving evidence and what she is describing.
Jack_
23-05-2012, 11:10 PM
Horrific and very calculated. Poor girl.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18194131
Shafilea Ahmed's sister talks of 'relief'
Shafilea Ahmed's sister has told a court it was a "relief" to tell police after seven years that her parents had murdered the teenager.
Asked why she had kept quiet for so long, Alesha Ahmed said: "I think it was not until I went to uni I saw how wrong family life was."
At Chester Crown Court, Ms Ahmed, 23, said how she had made the disclosure that she witnessed the murders to her solicitor and a police officer while she was in custody after arranging a robbery at the family home in Liverpool Road.
Questioned by Andrew Edis QC, for the prosecution, about why she had made the claim after all these years, Ms Ahmed said: "I think at that point I was really suffering with the family (and) the build-up to the robbery.
"It all got too much, and to be honest I think it was a relief more than anything to be able to tell someone finally."
She told the court that when she started university she realised "how wrong family life was".
"When you get used to something, it becomes normal and that's when I saw it wasn't normal, really," Ms Ahmed said.
"I think what happened to my sister was wrong but because it's your parents you think it's normal because you still love them.
"I think at uni I did feel the way my sister had - you want to fit in with everyone else but you are still being forced to live in a different way.
"I think that's what made me crack."
'Haunting her'
Ms Ahmed told the court she had been in a state of "emotional distress" when she made the witness statement about the alleged murder of her sister.
She said it had "been haunting her" for a long time.
Ms Ahmed told the jury her relationship with her parents "completely broke down" after she refused to marry potential suitors they had set up.
"I felt I was going down the same path that my sister was going down," the 23-year-old said.
"The pressure of going to Pakistan, being 21-years-old at the time and supposed to be married.
"I think I just absolutely snapped. It was either living the way they wanted me to live or live on my own, both were a struggle."
She said she "wasn't thinking properly" when she arranged for the robbery to take place.
'No control'
The jury was told the incident, on 25 August 2010, saw three or four masked men burst into the house and search for money as Ms Ahmed, her mother, brother and sisters were inside.
Ms Ahmed told the court she was arrested after her mother and brother told police the thieves had known her name.
"I was the one who made contact with them to come over," she said.
"However, as you can see from events I had no control and they did turn on me as well."
bbfan1991
24-05-2012, 04:00 PM
Poor girl and her deceased sister, hope their evil parents get a very big sentence when they are found guilty.
arista
24-05-2012, 04:04 PM
Poor girl and her deceased sister, hope their evil parents get a very big sentence when they are found guilty.
Yes Pure Evil
Lock them Up Forever
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18265169
Shafilea Ahmed's sister invented a "wicked story" that her parents killed the teenager, a court has heard.
Alesha Ahmed, 23, told Chester Crown Court she did not invent the story following her arrest for organising a robbery at her family home.
Tom Bayliss QC, for Mr Ahmed, told the court Ms Ahmed had made the allegation because she was "caught red handed" over the robbery in August 2010.
She has since admitted helping to organise the robbery, in which four masked men burst into the house and searched for money as her family were inside.
Mr Bayliss said to her: "You knew you could buy yourself out of trouble by making up a wicked story about your parents."
Ms Ahmed, giving evidence from behind a screen, replied: "I don't think the police are stupid enough to go on a story if they haven't got any evidence."
Mr Bayliss added: "You played your trump card didn't you? You decided to tell the police that your parents killed your sister and you did it to get yourself out of trouble."
She replied: "I didn't do it to get myself out of trouble. At the end of the day I was feeling really torn, and I still do feel quite torn. It's not a win-win situation.
"At the end of the day I've got my sister who's died on one side and my parents who I care about on the other."
During further cross-examination, Mr Bayliss said Alesha went out drinking on the day following the alleged murder, wearing her sister's "westernised" clothes.
He said: "If you had seen your parents killing your sister the day before you would not have dared go out drinking, would you?"
Alesha replied: "That's why I went out. Because of what I had seen."
The case continues.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-18494479
A sister of Shafilea Ahmed gave a friend letters about her parents "killing Shafilea", a court has heard.
The prosecution at Chester Crown Court alleges Mevish Ahmed, 21, wrote letters to a friend in 2008 which contained details of her sister's death.
However, Ms Ahmed said they were "free writing" and "fiction".
Prosecutor Andrew Edis said the documents had only recently been shown to police by Mevish Ahmed's friend, Shahin Munir.
He alleged to Ms Ahmed, who was 12 when Shafilea disappeared, that they were "letters that you wrote to your friend about your sister's death".
"These pieces of paper were about your parents killing Shafilea," he added.
However, she replied that they were "not letters about my sister's death, they are free writing".
"I write fiction, I write it quite a lot. Me and [sister] Alesha used to write fictional things and make-believe," she said.
"It's not necessarily associated with ourselves."
Ms Ahmed added that she had last seen Shafilea on the evening of 11 September 2003.
She told the jury that she had presumed Shafilea had "run away" and was staying with school friends.
She told the jury that this was "something that had happened before".
Mevish Ahmed is the second of Shafilea Ahmed's sisters to have appeared in court.
The trial continues.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-18460256
Shafilea Ahmed's sister told a family friend their father stabbed the 17-year-old and her body was "in pieces", a court heard.
Sehreen Shafaat, 22, a close friend of the Ahmed children, said Alesha told her Mr Ahmed stabbed Shafilea.
She said Alesha she told her, "My dad did it", Chester Crown Court heard.
Ms Shafaat, a trainee barrister, said she had known the family as a small child and after Shafilea's death became close to the Ahmeds' other daughters, Alesha and Mevish.
The court heard they attended the same college and she would frequently socialise or study with them at their home.
It was after one study session in December 2009 when Alesha turned to her and said the family "were not getting on".
She told the jury: "Alesha said there was no happiness and although the family looked happy on the outside, it wasn't happy on the inside."
She described Alesha as "upset" and "crying" and said: "And then she just came out with, 'My dad did it'."
Miss Shafaat told the jury Alesha said "something like", "My dad stabbed her and the body was all in pieces".
"During the conversation, she told me her dad had been violent in the past and she used the word 'strangle' but I can't remember if that was to do with the incident with Shafilea or something else."
She said Alesha had told her not to tell anyone what she had said and that she would take the information "to her grave".
Miss Shafaat said she put the information to the back of her mind and the first time she spoke of that conversation was during an interview with police.
"I wasn't expecting to ever have to repeat it," she said.
Boyfriend's evidence
A former boyfriend of Alesha Ahmed from university also told the court that she had described her sister's death.
The man, who cannot be named, said he had heard rumours among other students that she was related to Shafilea but when he asked her about it she denied it was her family and "brushed it off".
He said there were times he could see Miss Ahmed had "something deep troubling her and she needed to get it out of her system".
She eventually told him that she was Shafilea's sister and had witnessed her death.
"Alesha was in tears and basically said death was by suffocation and involved a carrier bag," he said.
IMO, this case, so far, will be difficult for the jury to decide, since, as yet, there is no "hard" evidence - if none is forthcoming, then all will depend on the performance of witnesses and the adjudged veracity of their "testimonies" - not easy, when there appears to be familial disagreement .....
I sat on a jury which had to deliberate on, and decide in, a serious offence involving two sides of a family - we only "swung the other way" when the appalling character of a prosecution witness was, indirectly, exposed and his statements thereby put into question, eroding the prosecution's case .....
****... this is the case i nearly got when i did Jury Service
****... this is the case i nearly got when i did Jury Service
What do you mean by "nearly" ?
:conf:
Well i got randomly selected for another one instead of this one
Well i got randomly selected for another one instead of this one
Ah, I see ..... :thumbs:
Afraid of your kids becoming too "westernised?"
Don't live in the west then. We're way too open-minded and civilised. :)
Redway
18-06-2012, 10:17 PM
You see, this is why some people clearly don't deserve to be parents. :bored:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18506251
A sister of Shafilea Ahmed has admitted in court to making silent phone calls to a trial witness.
But Mevish Ahmed denied she was trying to intimidate her friend Shahin Munir, to whom the prosecution say she wrote letters about Shafilea's death.
Ms Ahmed, 21, told Chester Crown Court the silent calls last week were a joke.
Speaking on the second day of her evidence, Ms Ahmed said she did not regret writing letters that had only recently been shown to police by Ms Munir which the prosecution says were "letters that you wrote to your friend about your sister's death".
"It's just a story, now it's being taken out of context," she said.
Continuing her evidence, Ms Ahmed denied she was covering up for her parents.
She added: "If they'd done something wrong I wouldn't just sit there and cover for them."
Andrew Edis QC, prosecuting, told the court of an incident in April 2009 when the witness was arrested on suspicion of stealing money from the family home.
He said: "You spoke to Shahin and told her that afterwards you were beaten by your mother and your father, thrown on the floor and they said that you should go to Pakistan right now and talked about finishing you and threatened to kill you."
Miss Ahmed said: "No, I fell outside the house."
The prosecution alleges Miss Ahmed fell out with her parents but returned home after they promised to withdraw the theft allegation.
Mr Edis said: "You had been arrested and investigated for the theft of £600 from your own house and you said (to Ms Munir), 'I'm going back home, if anything happens to me give police the diary'."
Ms Ahmed replied: "I don't recall that at all."
At the hearing on Monday, Ms Ahmed was asked about a telephone call made to Ms Munir during the second week of her parents' trial, in which the prosecution alleged her friend had apologised for handing documents to the police.
Ms Ahmed initially denied any memory of the call, but then said she had spoken to Ms Munir. She also denied that, during the call, she had "aggressively threatened" her friend and demanded the handing over of diary notes made after a conversation about Shafilea's death in a park in 2008.
Ms Ahmed has told the jury she had last seen Shafilea on the evening of 11 September 2003.
Mevish Ahmed is the second of Shafilea Ahmed's sisters to have appeared in court. *
Previously, Alesha Ahmed claimed she saw her parents suffocate Shafilea with a plastic bag.
The trial continues.
* Mevish is also the second of Shafilea Ahmed's sisters to have stolen from the family home.
If the report is indicative of court proceedings then Mevish is obviously lying and, presumably, open to a charge of trying to pervert the course of justice ..... :pipe:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18506251
After being questioned about the silent calls, Ms Ahmed was also asked about contact she had had with Ms Munir via telephone and text message after the trial began.
The prosecution alleged on Monday that her friend had apologised for handing the letters to the police.
In the second day of Ms Ahmed's testimony, Mr Edis alleged that Ms Munir had appeared upset in text messages to her over what he said was a crisis of conscience.
He also read a message sent by Ms Ahmed in which she said to Ms Munir "you need to go and tell them that you lied".
However, Ms Ahmed denied she had asked her friend to retract her statement to police and that Ms Munir's response to handing over the documents "wasn't my concern".
I reckon the jury will be sitting there, gobsmacked at what appear to be blatant lies ..... :amazed:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18519655
One of Shafilea Ahmed's sisters has told a jury that her parents played no part in the teenager's death.
Mevish Ahmed, 21, was giving evidence in the trial of Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed at Chester Crown Court.
The couple deny murdering Shafilea, 17, at their home in Liverpool Road, Warrington, in September 2003.
Ms Ahmed said she stood by the statements she made to police in December 2003, when Shafilea was missing.
She was cross-examined by Tom Bayliss QC, who is defending her 52-year-old taxi driver father.
He said: "The police officer asked you, 'did you think your mum and dad were involved in Shafilea's disappearance and could they be involved in any way?
"The 12-year-old you said no, what does the 21-year-old you say?"
Miss Ahmed replied: "No, still."
"And they weren't were they?" Mr Bayliss went on.
"No", she replied.
Apparently, there was a smell of burning in the courtroom ..... :idc:
The trial continues.
Will we have one of the parents next?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-18547054
Shafilea Ahmed's teacher saw injuries which the teenager claimed were caused in a "beating" from her parents, Chester Crown Court has heard.
Joanne Code spoke of Shafilea having a "bruised neck and a cut on her lip".
She said Shafilea also ran away from home and said she would not go back because "they are going to marry me off in Pakistan".
Iftikhar, 52, and Farzana Ahmed, 49, deny murdering their daughter Shafilea at their Warrington home in 2003.
'Parents beat her'
The teacher asked Shafilea if she should be worried about her welfare - to which she replied "yes", the court heard.
The next day the teenager returned to school with the signs of injuries to her neck and lip.
"She told me her mother and father had beat her and that they had taken it in turns to do so," she said.
Shafilea remained at school but the following month ran away from home and was found "shivering" in a park by a friend, the court heard.
Mrs Code said a meeting was arranged with social services in which Shafilea said she was "hopeful" that she could be reconciled with her parents.
The following February Mrs Code said she learned that the teenager had run away to Blackburn to be with a man called "Mushi".
'Very good student'
"She said she wasn't going home and when I asked why, she said, 'They're going to marry me off in Pakistan'.
"She point-blank refused to go home."
Mrs Code told the jury the teenager was a "very, very good student".
She said Shafilea was "very, very clear she wanted to be a barrister" and was "exceptionally keen to go to university".
Around a month after she joined the sixth form, Shafilea was absent from school and Mrs Code telephoned the family home and spoke to Mr Ahmed.
She told the jury she was "surprised" when he said Shafilea wanted to leave college and "burn her books".
The trial continues.
Poor Shafilea - a short life, alternating with hope and despair ..... :sad:
http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/9803365.SHAFILEA_AHMED__Prosecution_case_finishes_ on_Monday/2:50pm Friday 6th July 2012 in News
THE parents of Shafilea Ahmed have been hearing the final pieces of evidence against them.
Farzana and Iftikhar Ahamed, aged 52 and 49, will be giving their evidence next week at Chester Crown Court.
The prosecution is due to finish its case on Monday and on Thursday the court heard details of Farzana’s police interviews from December 2003.
In the interviews, which took place after she was arrested on a kidnapping charge, she told officers that Shafilea had lied to her friends and teachers about the physical abuse she suffered at the hands of her parents.
She told officers how the stress of Shafilea’s disappearance had caused health problems and her doctor was concerned for her on a visit shortly after the 17-year-old was last seen alive.
“He was so concerned, he told me I was going to kill myself,” she said. “He thought there was something wrong between me and my husband. He never knew, I never told him it was due to my daughter.
“I’m don’t care about anyone else, I’m concerned about my daughter. It’s going to effect her life, people are going to call her all sorts of things but I don’t care about anyone else now.”
The pair deny murdering their daughter.
The trial continues.
The defence will be "interesting" ..... :rolleyes:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-18772766
The mother of Shafilea Ahmed who is jointly accused of murdering her daughter in 2003 has changed her defence, a jury has been told.
Farzana Ahmed, 49, and husband Iftikhar, 52, both deny murdering Shafilea at their Warrington home.
Mr Justice Roderick Evans told Chester Crown Court Mrs Ahmed's decision was a "significant development in the case".
The remains of Shafilea, 17, were found on the banks of the River Kent in Cumbria in 2004.
'Significant development'
Jurors were told they would be given Mrs Ahmed's new defence statement on Tuesday.
Mr Justice Evans said: "That is a significant development in the case and needs some thought."
O-oh, is she trying to squirm out of the charge, maybe by blaming her husband ?
:puzzled:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-18772766
The mother of Shafilea Ahmed saw her husband attack her daughter on the night she disappeared, a court has heard.
Henry Riding, prosecuting, told the jury the new defence case statement contained an admission from Mrs Ahmed that an "incident of violence" towards Shafilea did occur.
It said Mrs Ahmed came downstairs to find her husband attacking Shafilea.
She claims she tried to intervene but was "punched with a clenched fist" and went upstairs with the other children as she was "scared".
She said she went back downstairs 20 minutes later and asked where Shafilea was.
She alleges Mr Ahmed replied: "If you care for your dear life and that of your children don't ever ask me this question again."
Her statement said she asked the same question of her husband "one or two days later".
He responded: "I have already told you once before, I don't know where she is. I have also told you not to ask me that question again."
Mrs Ahmed alleged that her husband told her that if she spoke to anyone or told anyone anything that he would "do the same to our other children and to you".
The statement ends by saying she believed her husband had taken Shafilea "somewhere" and that "she was safe".
IMO, she's lying yet again - no doubt we'll have a counter-statement from her husband, accusing her ..... :rolleyes:
rayheartbliss
09-07-2012, 06:23 PM
...and they say two moms or two dads are not good enough to be parents -_-
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/shafilea-ahmeds-father-denies-her-murder-7935857.html
A father accused of murdering his daughter because he believed she had brought shame on his family broke down in court today as he denied the charge.
Iftikhar Ahmed denied ever hurting his daughter or having anything to do with the murder.
Asked by Tom Bayliss QC, defending, how he felt about his wife, Ahmed said: "I love her to bits."
He said that had not changed, even after she changed her story.
Mr Bayliss said: "Have you ever caused any harm to your daughter Shafilea?"
Ahmed said: "No."
Mr Bayliss said: "Were you responsible for the death of your daughter?"
He replied: "No."
He added: "We were devastated to find out that she had left home in the first place."
When he was asked how he felt when his daughter's body was found, he struggled to respond, before adding in a strained voice: "We couldn't believe it when we heard."
Devastated, my arse ..... :mad:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-18797540
The run-up to the trial, Mr Ahmed said, had made them "come closer" as a family.
"We have been fighting to achieve justice for our daughter Shafilea," he added.
Mr Bayliss asked Mr Ahmed if he believed he would ever know what happened to Shafilea.
Mr Ahmed responded: "We were hoping so but I don't think we ever will."
Mr Ahmed then described Shafilea to the jury, calling her "talented and athletic".
He added: "Education-wise, she was absolutely brilliant - her best subject was art, she liked making mosaics.
"She was a character in herself. Very bubbly, very talkative, everything a child should be."
Mr Ahmed told the court he "totally agreed" with his daughter's ambition to become a solicitor.
He said that it was because of her studies that he had refused to discuss a marriage proposal for Shafilea made by a "distant uncle" on behalf of his son.
He added that he did not know where the 17-year-old had got the impression she was to be "married off" from.
Mr Bayliss also asked him about his opinion of Shafilea's social life and, in particular, her friendships with boys.
Mr Ahmed said if he had known about her having a friendship with a boy, "there would not be a problem".
"If we know who she is going with and then we get to know about who he is and if she likes the person, then that's fine. It's her life," he said.
When asked by Mr Bayliss how the death and accusations had affected the family and his relationship with his wife, Mr Ahmed replied: "As a couple, it's devastating, not something we expected."
Liar, liar, pants on fire ..... :mad:
arista
11-07-2012, 04:13 PM
If he did not
Who Did?
He must go to Prison.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9395149/Shafilea-Ahmeds-domineering-and-violent-father-concealed-her-death-for-10-years.html
Shafilea Ahmed’s “domineering and violent” father managed to conceal the truth about the teenager’s murder by forcing his family to lie for nearly 10 years, a court heard.
Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, allegedly “wrote a script” about her disappearance that they all stuck to until “very recently”.
But two of his surviving daughters, Alesha and Mevish had eventually given contradictory accounts, and a few days ago his wife and co-accused, Farzana, 49, had done the same.
Mrs Ahmed’s new version of events was that she last saw her daughter alive after coming downstairs on September 11, 2003.
She claims she entered the kitchen of the family's home in Warrington, Cheshire, to see her husband slapping Shafilea and shouting: “After all we have done for you, you’ve started messing again”.
Mr Ahmed told the jury at Chester Crown Court that no such conversation had taken place. He also rejected the suggestion by his wife’s barrister, Mukhtar Hussain, QC, that she had “pleaded” with him not to hit her.
Mr Mukhtar put it to Mr Ahmed that his wife had finally spoken up after being denied bail and detained in prison for five weeks.
The time she had spent away from him had given her the chance to think for herself.
Until that time she had been “reading the script that you wrote”, said Mr Mukhtar.
“You wrote a script for her and the children and they’ve been reading that script until each of them has decided to follow it no longer.”
Mr Ahmed replied: “I’ve not written a script”.
He denied Mr Hussain’s suggestion that he was domineering and violent.
The barrister went on: “You have controlled your wife and children, and you have had absolute control until very, very recently haven't you?"
Mr Ahmed replied: "I have never had any control over anybody”.
Mr Hussain: "The control has not just simply been exercised recently, but over many years with a degree of violence from you."
Mr Ahmed: "There's never been any violence from me."
Andrew Edis, QC, prosecuting, alleged that Mr Ahmed had agreed to an arranged marriage between Shafilea and one of her cousins.
However, this plan had been abandoned in the weeks after the teenager swallowed bleach in a suicide attempt at her grandmother’s home in Pakistan.
The father of the proposed suitor, Abdul Razak, rang Mr Ahmed to say Shafilea was now “damaged goods” and “that any plan had reached the end of the road”.
I smell those pants burning again ..... :hmph:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/07/13/shafilea-ahmed-murder-trial-iftikhar-ahmed-farzana-andrew-edis_n_1670753.html?utm_hp_ref=uk
A father accused of murdering his "Westernised" daughter told a jury today she was lying when she complained of violence and being forced into marriage.
Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, was giving evidence for a third day at Chester Crown Court where he is accused with his wife Farzana, 49, of killing their daughter Shafilea, 17, in September 2003.
Andrew Edis QC, for the prosecution, read the jury Shafilea's application for emergency accommodation after she ran away from home that February.
Shafilea disappeared in September 2003 and her body was found on the bank of the River Kent in Cumbria the following February
Under the heading, "Reasons for leaving home", Shafilea, whose 29th birthday would have taken place tomorrow, said: "Forced into arranged marriage in Pakistan."
Mr Edis said that under the heading "Nature and incidents of violence", Shafilea added: "Regular incidents since I was 15 or 16. One parent would hold me while the other hit me.
"I was prevented from attending college and my part-time job. I'm scared of going back to my parents and frightened enough to flee my home."
Mr Edis said to taxi driver Ahmed: "That's a tissue of lies, according to you, isn't it?"
The defendant said: "Yes."
The barrister continued with Shafilea's statement, in which she said: "There has been a build up to the violence towards me and my mother told me I was about to go to Pakistan for an arranged marriage and my mother had begun to pack.
"My parents had been into school and told my teachers I would be absent and going to Pakistan. My teachers have approached my parents in the past about preventing me from going to school and tried to get social services involved."
Mr Edis said: "Shafilea feared she was going to be married off, that's her perception isn't it?"
Ahmed said: "We had no knowledge of this.
"This paperwork Shafilea filled in, what she's put down was not true."
The barrister went on: "Why would she want alternative accommodation from a loving and caring family home?"
Ahmed replied: "If it was her perception that she was going to be married off, that's her perception.
"If she did mention it (to us) we would have told her there was no such thing and when she did mention it we assured her there was no such thing."
That's another pair of pants burned to a cinder ..... :hmph:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18875898
The youngest child of a couple accused of murdering their daughter has denied being told "to act as though you don't understand" if police asked about her disappearance, a court has heard.
The youngest Ahmed family member was seven at the time.
The jury at Chester Crown Court was told the sister, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had told police Shafilea had gone to bed before her on the night in question.
Andrew Edis QC, prosecuting, asked the witness if she was told what to say to police by Mr Ahmed, 52, and Mrs Ahmed, 49.
The witness replied: "Not that I know of, no."
Mr Edis asked the witness about conversations she had with her mother, which were picked up by covert police recording devices.
He told the jury you can hear Mrs Ahmed tell her "to act as though you don't understand" if anyone asked about Shafilea's disappearance.
Responding to a statement from Mr Edis that her parents were telling her what to say, she replied: "No".
She denied that either of her parents had been violent towards her and said could not remember any violence directed at Shafilea.
Asked if she remembered anything about her sister at all, she said: "I remember bits."
She said she did not remember Shafilea running away from home.
The jury was also told about a "blazing row" the witness had with her parents over a "dispute" about a lip piercing.
Mr Edis said Mr Ahmed shouted: "We are your parents, you will obey us. You are not bringing shame on this family."
He then asked if she had heard her parents say anything like that before.
She said: "Not that I can think of at this time, no."
The prosecution claims Shafilea was killed by her parents because she brought shame on the family by her desire to lead a westernised lifestyle.
Earlier in the trial, the jury was told Mrs Ahmed had changed her account, claiming she saw her husband beat Shafilea on the night of the alleged murder.
She also claimed he had threatened to do the same to her and their other children if she ever asked him what happened to Shafilea.
The youngest member of the family said she "could not accept" her mother's latest story was the truth.
:idc:
http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1583823_shafilea-ahmed-trial-brother-denies-cover-up-over-killing
The brother of a girl allegedly murdered by her parents for bringing shame on the family denied playing a part in the killing and being part of a cover-up, a court heard today.
Today the court heard from Junyad Ahmed, 22, who would have been 13 at the time of the alleged killing.
The court has previously been told by his sister Alesha Ahmed that the defendants killed the teenager in front of their other children and that Junyad passed a plastic bag to his parents which they stuffed in her mouth as they suffocated her.
Alesha also said that afterwards her brother said "she deserved it".
Junyad, a taxi driver, said that Alesha's story was a "pack of lies", that Shafilea had gone missing and that everything was "normal" in the house that night.
Andrew Edis QC, prosecuting, said: "You did see exactly what happened to Shafilea didn't you?"
He said: "No."
Mr Edis said: "You actually played a part in it."
The witness responded: "I did not play a part in my sister's death."
"And you have been covering it up ever since haven't you?" Mr Edis said.
Mr Ahmed responded: "I have not been covering anything up."
Tom Bayliss QC, defending Iftikhar, asked the witness what his reaction was when he heard Alesha's evidence about him saying Shafilea "deserved it".
The witness said: "That's a pack of lies. I didn't say anything of the sort."
The jury was sent home for the day and the trial will continue tomorrow.
Do I smell burning again ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-18911508
Shafilea Ahmed's mother has told a court her husband was the last person to see their daughter alive.
Speaking through a translator, Mrs Ahmed told the jury at Chester Crown Court that she had played no part in Shafilea's death.
She also said she had not seen Shafilea being killed.
Mrs Ahmed added the last time she had seen her daughter was on 11 September 2003.
Asked by Mukhtar Hussain QC, defending Mrs Ahmed, who the last person was to see her daughter alive, she replied, "My husband".
In response to a question about Shafilea's friends and relationships outside of her family, Mrs Ahmed told the court she did not know of her daughter's contact with boys until 2002 when her phone rang.
The court heard she was told to answer the phone, with a male voice audible on the other end of the line asking if she was ok.
Mrs Ahmed said they asked her daughter who it was, but she would not answer them.
Asked by Mr Hussain how Mr Ahmed reacted to this, Mrs Ahmed said: "He slapped her twice".
Mr Hussain then asked Mrs Ahmed how she responded, to which she replied: "What else could I have done, I said to Shafilea, tell your father the truth".
Mrs Ahmed she had been "very upset" when Shafilea ran away from home to Blackburn in early 2003.
The jury heard the family flew to Pakistan the day after Shafilea was brought home by her father.
Mrs Ahmed denied there was a "plan" to get her married off when in Pakistan, and denied Shafilea was given a drugged drink to get her on the plane.
She said: "There was no drink, I don't know anything about it."
Innocent until proven guilty, remember ..... :rolleyes:
I think they're all as guilty as each other and they're each trying to worm their way out of it. This is devastating to follow.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-18922597
The mother of Shafilea Ahmed has told a court she saw her husband attack their daughter on the night she disappeared.
Describing the night of 11 September 2003, Mrs Ahmed told Chester Crown Court: "My husband was hitting Shafilea. He punched her twice".
Questioned about her husband's behaviour on the night by Mukhtar Hussain QC defending, Mrs Ahmed cried as she said she had "never seen him so angry".
She said Mr Ahmed had shouted at his daughter that they had "done so much for you and you're still messing around".
She added that she had tried to intervene but Mr Ahmed had "pushed me and also punched me".
"When I tried to stop him, he pushed me away. I said to him 'sit down, talk to her, what is the point of hitting her?'"
Mrs Ahmed said Shafilea's sister Mevish had come into the room during the attack and she left to take her upstairs.
She said she had then stayed there with her other daughters and, "25 minutes later, I heard the engine being started".
"[Mr Ahmed] left just after 10pm and returned at six to 6.30am, when I woke and heard him come in," she told Chester Crown Court.
"I asked him 'where have you been and where is Shafilea?'"
"He said 'if you care about your life and your children's lives, [you will] not ask me this question ever again,'" she said
:idc:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9421442/Shafilea-Ahmeds-mother-caught-calling-her-children-daughters-of-pigs-in-secret-recording.html
Shafilea Ahmed's mother was overheard calling her children 'daughters of pigs' and threatening to hit them on secret recordings made by the police, a court heard today.
It emerged today that Mrs Ahmed was heard 'telling off' her husband in secret recordings made by police when the bugged the family home.
In another extract, Mrs Ahmed was heard shouting at her daughters calling them "daughters of pigs " and threatening to hit them.
She said:"I was just trying to scare them. I did not mean to do what I said."
The jury was played six extracts from secret police recordings at the family house in Warrington, Cheshire made after Shafilea went missing in September 2003.
Mrs Ahmed was heard shouting at her husband in discussions about the police investigation.
Mr Edis said:"You don't sound terrified of him. You are telling him off."
She said:"Perhaps I was angry.I was suffering from depression and I was not thinking very clearly."
One extract was of the couple discussing the possibility of their house being bugged by police and Mr Edis said:" You were worried because there was a secret to be kept. You were working together as a team to make sure the cover up was effective."
Mother of five Mrs Ahmed replied:"I had not done anything. I was frightened."
Mr Edis said:"You have stayed with a murderer for nine years. You have operated as a team."
She replied:"I am telling the truth. I have never been part of a team.I have not taken part in anything."
She admitted that the " hundreds of hours " of recordings did not show any signs of violence toward her or any examples of her asking her husband what had become of Shafilea.
She said:"Obviously he did not threaten me 24 hours a day but there were several occasions."
Mr Edis said the taped conversations showed that " you were planning a defence strategy with him because you had done the murder with him."
She replied:"No."
Mr Edis said in a third conversation played to the jury about a trip to Pakistan she was "telling him off."
She said: "That is my normal voice.I was not shouting at my husband.My husband will not allow me to shout at him. In our culture women do not shout at their husbands. It is my normal voice. It is how I speak."
Mr Edis said the extracts showed her speaking " very angrily and very aggressively " to her husband.
He said:"You were in control in the house.You were not just a domestic servant. You could stick up for yourself."
Mrs Ahmed replied:"It is different in your culture. In our culture, it is not acceptable for a woman to go against her husband's wishes."
Mr Edis said to her:" Shafilea had brought shame on your family and if there is one thing you cannot stand, it is shame. It is more important than happiness and even more important than life. That is why you killed her."
Mr Ahmed replied:"No. As I have said before, I did not kill our daughter."
When this dreadful woman is finally found guilty I hope that she is banged up for a very, very long time ..... :mad:
http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/whereilive/9842426.SHAFILEA_TRIAL__Jury_told_to_put_aside_sus picions/
THE jury in the Shafilea Ahmed trial has been hearing why they should not convict her parents of her murder this morning.
Tom Bayliss QC told the court that despite the intense media interest in the case jurors had to put aside any prejudices or conceptions they had when decided the verdicts for Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed, aged 52 and 49.
He said: "It is a case that has gripped the media. I doubt anyone in this country doesn't know about this case. It appeals to all our prejudices. A young woman trying to live the life she wanted "It is easy to portray [her parents] as backward thinking figures. Their culture is still right in Pakistan and they find it difficult to accept [western life]."
He added that they should ignore the prosecution's assertions that the 17-year-old, who is alleged to have died on September 11 2003 in the family home on Liverpool Road, Great Sankey, could only submit, escape or die.
He added: "The fact Shafilea was rebelling against her parents doesn't mean they would kill her."
The court is expected to hear the final case from Farzana's barrister on Monday.
Well, I'm not putting aside MY suspicicions ..... :hmph:
http://www.thisisbigbrother.com/forums/newreply.php?do=postreply&t=201527
A judge has told the jury in the Shafilea Ahmed murder trial to put aside any "feelings of sympathy and revulsion" as they approach their verdicts.
Mr Justice Roderick Evans has begun summing up in the trial of Shafilea's parents, Iftikhar and Farzana, who are accused at Chester Crown Court of murdering the 17-year-old at the family home in September 2003.
Mr Justice Evans told the seven men and five women of the jury: "Put aside any feelings of sympathy and revulsion. Discuss the evidence coolly and calmly."
He told them there was "no special way" or "secret formula" to reaching a verdict and urged them to rely on common sense.
I wonder how long the jury will take ?
If they decide to re-evaluate the whose case, they could be days, but if their minds have already been made up by the weight of evidence, then they could be out by tea-time.
bbfan1991
03-08-2012, 12:07 PM
Found guilty today. I hope they rot in jail!
Munchkins
03-08-2012, 12:09 PM
Found guilty today. I hope they rot in jail!
So do i, its just so disgusting :(
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19068490
The parents of Shafilea Ahmed have been found guilty of her murder.
Iftikhar, 52, and Farzana Ahmed, 49, had denied her murder but the jury at Chester Crown Court returned guilty verdicts against them both.
As the verdicts were delivered by the jury after two days of deliberations, Iftikhar Ahmed stood impassively. Mrs Ahmed wiped tears from her eyes with a tissue.
As Mr Ahmed was taken down to the cells, he swore at police officers.
Their children Junyad, Mevish and the youngest, who cannot be named for legal reasons, all broke down in tears.
Mr Justice Roderick Evans said he would pass sentence at 14:15 BST.
I hope that he bangs them up for with a minimum of 30 years ..... :mad:
bbfan1991
03-08-2012, 01:43 PM
Both got 25 years minimum tariff each.
Both got 25 years minimum tariff each.
Good, I hope Shafilea may rest in peace now - the remainder of the family will have a lot of soul-searching to do for conspiring to cover up the crime, though.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19068490
On sentencing, Mr Justice Evans told the couple: "A desire that she understood and appreciated the cultural heritage from which she came is perfectly understandable, but an expectation that she live in a sealed cultural environment separate from the culture of the country in which she lived was unrealistic, destructive and cruel."
He added: "You killed one daughter, but you have blighted the lives of your remaining children.
"Alesha escaped but she is unlikely to be able to avoid the legacy of her upbringing.
"Mevish, after a period of trying to live independently, was recaptured and brought home, and has since become compliant with your wishes."
He added: "As to Junyad, he remains supportive, especially of you Iftikhar Ahmed.
"Whether that is simply out of filial affection or the result of the warped values you instilled in him is impossible to tell.
I'm glad justice has been served, I'm so convinced they're as guilty as each other.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19119014
Iftikhar Ahmed embraced Western culture until his marriage to Farzana, his ex-wife said.
Vivi Lone Andersen said Iftikhar was "a very happy boy" who enjoyed dancing, drinking beer and going to discos when he lived with her in Denmark.
She said his personality changed around his Pakistani relatives.
Ms Anderson, who is Danish, married Iftikhar in 1982 in Copenhagen and they had a son, Tony Andersen.
The couple lived in Denmark until 1986, when he received a letter from family in Pakistan and told his wife he had to go home as his mother was unwell.
After several months in Pakistan, Iftikhar asked Ms Anderson to join him in Bradford with their son to start a new life.
When she arrived, a heavily pregnant woman, whom Iftikhar introduced as his cousin Farzana, was also living in the house.
It was only when a health visitor went to the house that Iftikhar admitted that Farzana's baby was his and that he had married her in Pakistan.
He told his wife that he and Farzana had been promised to each other when they were children.
Ms Andersen left the UK the same month she had arrived and recalls conversations with Iftikhar in which he said he could leave his son to grow up without his influence because he was a boy.
He said, if they had had a girl, he would not be able to allow her to grow up "without his guidance in the Islamic ways".
Ms Andersen said she was married to Iftikhar for five years, but left him after learning he had married Farzana, adding: "Farzana was pregnant at that time so he was in deep trouble and he knew that if I went to the British police, which I could have easily done, he would have been thrown out.
"I don't know the rules in Britain about having two wives because we were still married at that time."
So ..... Iftikhar is a hypocrite and a bigamist who refused to support his own son ..... :rolleyes:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19480160
A mother jailed for life for murdering her daughter is seeking permission to appeal against her conviction, the CPS has said.
Farzana Ahmed and her husband Iftikhar were found guilty of murdering Shafilea in July.
The 17-year-old went missing from her home in Warrington, Cheshire, in 2003 and her body was found in the River Kent in Cumbria six months later.
The Court of Appeal has received an appeal application, the CPS said.
The grounds for appeal have not been disclosed.
I hope any such appeal is rejected ..... :hmph:
Kizzy
05-09-2012, 09:17 AM
Me too, and I hope it serves as a warning against any further so called 'honour' killings.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-20356520
The sister of murdered 17-year-old Shafilea Ahmed has avoided a jail term after admitting her part in an armed robbery at her parents' home.
Alesha Ahmed, 24, was arrested in connection with the robbery in Warrington, Cheshire in August 2010.
She was given a 12-month suspended sentence at Southwark Crown Court after pleading guilty in April 2011.
Her parents Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed were jailed for life in August after being convicted of murdering Shafilea.
Southwark Crown Court heard the teenager's arrest ultimately led to the conviction of her parents for the murder.
It was in a police interview that she told officers she had seen her parents kill her sister seven years earlier.
The jury was told that she helped organise the robbery at the family home in Liverpool Road.
Three masked men broke into the house, tying up Farzana Ahmed and three of her children.
They were armed with a gun, a hammer and an iron bar and ransacked the property before fleeing with cash and jewellery.
Her brother was kicked as he lay on the ground by a man wearing a steel toe-capped boot, and Mevish, one of her sisters, was hit in the shoulder with the hammer, the court heard.
Mr Justice Irwin told Alesha Ahmed, who is part of a witness protection scheme, that the normal sentence for a serious crime of this kind would be a significant jail sentence.
The judge described her story as "extraordinary and terrifying", but said he was confident she would not re-offend and suspended her sentence for two years.
He said: "In my view, this is a case for mercy.
"I bear in mind all of the extraordinary circumstances I have outlined, in particular the truly appalling nature of what you had to witness, the impact this has had on you, and what you went through to be a witness."
He added her role in the robbery was "crucial", but there was a "degree of unreality" about how she behaved.
Good call from the judge ..... :thumbs:
Cheshire Police appealed for anyone with information about the robbery to come forward.
Det Insp Dougie Shaw, who is leading the investigation, said: "The men involved in the robbery remain outstanding.
"Enquiries are ongoing to identify these offenders and ensure they are brought to justice."
CCTV images of two men police wish to trace in connection with the incident have now been released.
The men are pictured at a petrol station in the Castle Bromwich area of Birmingham on 25 August 2010.
Anyone who knows them should give them up ..... :suspect:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21631087
A charity for victims of honour crime is calling for a serious case review into Shafilea Ahmed's murder.
The 17-year-old went missing from her home in Warrington, Cheshire, in 2003. Her body found six months later.
She was suffocated by her parents Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed after years of abuse.
Karma Nirvana said it has asked Warrington Local Safeguarding Children Board to investigate. It has yet to comment.
Karma Nirvana project manager Anup Manota said: "Serious lessons must be learnt from the tragic death of Shafilea so it never happens again.
"There were definitely flaws in this case. There were definite triggers and discussions about the threat of Shafilea being taken to Pakistan and being forced into marriage."
:idc:
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