Shafilea Ahmed Murder: Sister Was 'Frozen In Shock' At 'Seeing Her Parents Kill'

Shafilea Ahmed Murder: Sister 'Frozen In Shock' At Parents' Crime, Court Hears

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

Afterwards, she was "frozen in shock", the court heard.

Alesha Ahmed told Chester Crown Court 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 aged 15, who kept the secret for seven years, the jury has been told.

Asked about the night of the murder by 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."

She said she could not remember which parent said to grab her leg.

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

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"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.

Shafilea Ahmed's parents, Iftikhar and Farzana, are accused of her murder

Alesha, who had to keep pausing to compose herself, said her sister then "wet herself because she was struggling so much".

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.

Mrs Ahmed wiped tears from her eyes as she listened to her daughter's evidence.

The court heard the attack happened after around 12 months of conflict between the parents and the teenager.

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