[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...yside-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 .....

[Novo]

****... this is the case i nearly got when i did Jury Service

[Omah]

Originally Posted by Novo

****... this is the case i nearly got when i did Jury Service

What do you mean by "nearly" ?

[Novo]

Well i got randomly selected for another one instead of this one

[Omah]

Originally Posted by Novo

Well i got randomly selected for another one instead of this one

Ah, I see .....

[Enid]

Afraid of your kids becoming too "westernised?"

Don't live in the west then. We're way too open-minded and civilised.

[Urban Cragou]

You see, this is why some people clearly don't deserve to be parents.

[Omah]

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 Ł600 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 .....

[Omah]

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 .....

[Omah]

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 .....

The trial continues.

Will we have one of the parents next?

[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...yside-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 .....

[Omah]

http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/..._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" .....

[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...ester-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 ?

[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...ester-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 .....

[rayheartbliss]

...and they say two moms or two dads are not good enough to be parents -_-

[Omah]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...r-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 .....

[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...ester-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 .....

[arista]

If he did not
Who Did?

He must go to Prison.

[Omah]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...-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 .....

[Omah]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012...?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 .....

[Omah]

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.

[Omah]

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereven...p-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 ?

[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...ester-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 .....

[Z]

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.

[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...ester-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