Murder trial is told of lies ‘to protect parents’

Alesha Ahmed was continuing her evidence at Chester Crown Court where her parents, Iftikhar, 52, and Farzana, 49, deny murdering their daughter.

The teenager vanished in September 2003 and her decomposed remains were discovered in Cumbria in February 2004.

It was not until last year that Ms Ahmed provided the “final piece of the puzzle” about Shafilea’s death, the prosecution say, when she disclosed that she witnessed her parents killing Shafilea at the family home in Warrington.

Jurors heard passages of Ms Ahmed’s first police interview following Shafilea’s disappearance.

The witness, then aged 15, told officers that she woke up at 7am and saw that Shafilea was gone and her bag was also missing.

She went on to say she did not think her parents had caused any harm to her Bradford-born sister.

Cross-examined about the interview, Tom Bayliss QC, defending Mr Ahmed, said: “You were telling the truth, weren’t you?”

Ms Ahmed, now 23, replied: “No, I was 15 years old and I was scared of my parents and had just witnessed a murder actually.”

The barrister went on: “Nobody would expect to see (Shafilea) back if they had seen a murder happen. But it didn’t happen did it?”

Ms Ahmed said: “It did happen and we all saw it.”

Last week, Alesha described how her parents pushed Shafilea onto the settee in their house and she heard her mother say “Just finish it here” as they forced a plastic bag into the teenager’s mouth and suffocated her in front of their other children.

The couple allegedly murdered their “Westernised” daughter because they believed her conduct was bringing shame on the family, the prosecution say.

Ms Ahmed made the claim about Shafilea’s murder when she was in custody after being arrested for organising a robbery at the Ahmed home in August 2010.

Mr Bayliss accused her of lying about the robbery. He said she was expecting the jury to believe what she was telling them about her parents, but that “time and time again” she had been telling lies.

She replied: “I think it’s actually ridiculous that I am on the stand and that my parents don’t have the guts to say what they have done. I think it’s out of order that I am being put through this because they can’t tell the truth themselves.”

The court heard how in the days leading up to the robbery, Ms Ahmed – a full-time student – was “flush” with money and that £6,500 was paid into one of her bank accounts.

The jury was told how she paid £1,500 for a Dolce and Gabbana bag as well as “renting” a grey BMW for £400 a week.

She claimed she had saved the money up through a job at a petrol station, getting paid for doing girls’ hair extensions, and from saving on rent when she moved in with her boyfriend.

The court was then told that Ms Ahmed was forced to “pay off” the people who were threatening to do the robbery with a total of £3,700 to stop it from happening.

She said: “I was putting people off to try and stop the robbery... basically I was being pressured. I got myself into a mess and I was having to pay people off.”

She admitted that she had still not told the police “exactly why everything happened”.

The jury was read a series of text messages she sent to a phone belonging to her mother, telling her she needed money after getting into trouble.

Mr Bayliss said the money owed was about £3,900.

Asked by Mr Bayliss why she needed money, the witness said she “wasn’t in a position to say”.

The barrister went on to accuse her of making the claim about her parents killing Shafilea in order to avoid a “very, very long” prison sentence.

The trial continues.