Father admits repeated attacks
on son, five, but denies murder

Pazeer Ahmed said he had loved his son Haroon and never intended to cause him serious injury but sometimes he did not have control of himself.

He told Leeds Crown Court: “There is no way I intended to kill my son, I loved him to bits.”

Haroon died on January 23 this year from a combination of head and abdominal injuries. The court has also heard he had suffered a number of burns among a catalogue of injuries sustained over a two-month period.

Ahmed, 34, of Aberford Road, Wakefield, denies murder but has admitted the manslaughter of his son,

In evidence Ahmed said he began to suffer stress from about 2008 onwards and stopped talking to his family. “I used to have nightmares almost every day and bad dreams as well.”

Haroon was living with Ahmed’s wife in Pakistan but in October last year it was agreed he should return to the UK to start school.

Ahmed told Howard Godfrey QC, defending, that his family did not know about his mental problems.

He denied ever burning his son with cigarettes but accepted causing one burn to his leg while ironing. “All of a sudden very powerful images came into my head. I pressed the iron on his leg. I didn’t intend to hurt him. He had done nothing to deserve it.

“I used to hit my son sometimes when I washed him and powerful images came into my head. Other times I had nightmares and would lash out.”

He said that when he came to his senses and his son told him, “Dad you have hit me”, he would be really sorry.

He said that between November 3, 2011 and the day his son died these things happened regularly, not every single day but perhaps every other day, two or three times a week.

“It would just happen without me realising. I didn’t wish to hurt him or to cause him pain.

“I realised as time went on that these attacks were beyond my control. No one knew about my mental problems. I wanted to tell my family and social services but I was so confused. I didn’t tell anybody.”

He said on the night of January 22 something came into his head when he was washing Haroon and he hit the boy’s head against the bathroom wall, telling Mr Godfrey: “It happened so quick.”

Under cross-examination by Julian Goose QC, prosecuting, Ahmed said he could not forgive himself for causing the injuries, adding: “I didn’t realize they were so severe.”

He said on the occasions he hit his son the boy complained and cried for a long time. “When I came back round after hitting him I was so, so sorry. I was confused, I had no support.”

He accepted causing most of the injuries, including bites. “I’m not going to make excuses up. I am responsible for my son’s death,” but he added: “I don’t know how some of the injuries occurred.

“I knew he was in pain but I used to give him paracetamol, I thought it was OK. I didn’t realise how serious it was.”

Ahmed said the abdominal injuries where caused when he hit him on the stomach when washing him the night before his death.

“I knew afterwards that assaulting him was wrong. It wasn’t minutes it was seconds afterwards. I didn’t have control over myself at the time of injuring him but when I came to my senses I knew what I’d done and I knew it was wrong.”

He denied exaggerating his mental condition in hospital and jail. “I didn’t say I was a soldier for the Mongolian emperor or remember being uncommunicative or speaking about spiders,” he argued.

The case continues.

“I didn’t say these things to try and explain what I did to Haroon.”

The trial continues.