Girl tells court of night parents allegedly murdered her sister (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Girl tells court of night parents allegedly murdered her sister

6:14pm Wednesday 23rd May 2012 in News

The sister of Bradford-born Shafilea Ahmed broke down in tears as she described the moment she witnessed her parents allegedly murdering her sister.

Alesha Ahmed told Chester Crown Court today that she heard her mother, Farzana Ahmed, say “Just finish it here” as she and her husband Iftikhar forced a plastic bag into Shafilea’s mouth and suffocated her to death in front of their other children. Iftikhar, 52, and Farzana, 49, of Liverpool Road, Warrington, Cheshire, deny murdering 17-year-old Shafilea at the family home in September 2003.

The alleged murder was witnessed by Alesha, then 15, who kept the secret for seven years, the jury has been told.

Asked about the night of the murder by prosecutor Andrew Edis QC, Alesha said her parents pushed Shafilea on to the settee in their house. Asked by Mr Edis how Shafilea was, she replied: “She was scared, as usual.”

Alesha said her mother grabbed a plastic bag from a nearby stool.

“First of all, they put it in her mouth, then they put their hands over her,” she told the court.

Alesha, who was giving evidence from behind a curtain so she could not be seen by her parents in the dock, said she saw Shafilea’s eyes were “really wide”.

“You could tell she was gasping for air,” she said. Asked what happened next, she replied: “That was it, she was gone.”

Mr Edis asked her what her parents did next. She said: “They carried on with their hands still on her mouth, even when she had stopped struggling.”

She said they did this for up to 30 seconds and described their attitude as “aggressive”.

Alesha, now 23, told the court that her brother and two sisters were also in the room.

“The others ran out of the room because they were so upset. I was just frozen in shock,” she said.

Alesha then saw her parents sorting through sheets, bin bags and tape which they had taken from the garage. She said she went back into the bedroom.

She said: “My brother said to me and my sisters that she deserved it. He then went out of the room.”

She described looking out of the window and seeing her father carrying something which appeared to be wrapped up. She said: “It was just the way he was carrying it and the way it was. It just looked like it was my sister Shafilea.”

The trial continues.