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Family of new bride turned blind eye to murder
FOUR family members who turned a blind eye to "sustained and vicious" assaults by a husband on his new bride have been found guilty of failing to help her.
Sabia Rani, 19, had been in Yorkshire from her native Pakistan for six months when she was murdered by Shazad Khan, 25. The weightlifting fanatic attacked his wife several times at their Leeds home, leaving her with appalling injuries that a pathologist likened to an earthquake victim.
Medical evidence suggested that Ms Rani's injuries were so severe that she would also have had difficulty breathing in the painful final days of her life, yet four family members did nothing to help her.
Khan was convicted of her murder a year ago after she was discovered with bruising to 90 per cent of her body and up to 15 broken ribs.
In one of the first cases of its kind, police later charged four family members with allowing the death of a vulnerable adult, under the Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act 2004.
As the guilty verdicts were read at Leeds Crown Court yesterday, defendants screamed and thumped the dock in shock and anger.
In the dock were Khan's mother Phullan Bibi, 52, and two of his sisters, Uzma Khan, 23, and Nazia Naureen, 28, and Naureen's husband Majid Hussain, 28, who all lived in the same house as the couple in Oakwood Grange, Leeds.
The sisters started wailing and hugged each other and screamed "not guilty! not guilty!" as the verdicts were read.
Bibi stood up crying and banged both hands down hard on the dock repeatedly before being restrained by officers.
All four were found guilty of allowing the death of a vulnerable adult after a three-week trial.
The jury heard that Ms Rani must have been in severe pain and very ill in the weeks before her death in May 2006.
Prosecutor Simon Myerson, QC, said the defendants blamed her injuries on evil spirits and curses.
Ms Rani, who had been brought up in rural Pakistan and spoke limited English, only came to England six months before she died and was not allowed out of the house without a member of her husband's family.
Uzma Khan later apologised to the judge for her outburst.
The defendants were granted bail to return to court for a further hearing this morning and will be sentenced at a later date.
Judge James Stewart QC warned them they should expect jail sentences.
Speaking after the case, Detective Superintendent Steve Fear said that Ms Rani had been subjected to a "sustained and vicious" attack and those she lived with would have known the extent of her pain and suffering.
He added: "As a young woman in a new country, Sabia should have had the support of the people that have today been convicted. As the evidence has shown, the people Sabia should have been able to depend on knew her husband was inflicting continuous pain on her.
"West Yorkshire Police do not tolerate domestic violence in any form and will robustly deal with abusers or those who allow it to happen. This case is extreme and could have been prevented by those who have been convicted."
A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said the defendants were among the first people in the country to be convicted of allowing the death of a vulnerable adult.
Malcolm Taylor of CPS West Yorkshire's Complex Casework Unit said: "This is the first case in West Yorkshire and one of the very first cases in the whole of England and Wales where the provisions of the Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act 2004 have been used after the death of a vulnerable adult."
Sad bride in a family circle of pain and terror
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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