Father killed daughter who loved wrong man
A Kurdish man who murdered his daughter because she was in love with the wrong man was convicted today, as it emerged that police are investigating a series of potential blunders by officers in the case.
Banaz Mahmod disappeared from Hounslow, West London, in January 2006 after repeatedly warning the police that she feared her life was in danger. Her body was found buried in a suitcase in Birmingham three months later.
This afternoon, after a three-month trial, her father, Mahmod Mahmod, and her uncle, Ari Mahmod, were found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey. Mohamad Hama, an associate of Ari, had already pleaded guilty. Two other men suspected of involvement in the case have fled the country.
The conclusion of the trial, which saw a fourth man, also an associate of Ari, acquitted of conspiracy to pervert justice, allowed the judge to lift the reporting restrictions that have surrounded the case and reveal that five police officers are under investigation for how they handled Ms Mahmod's pleas for help.
Ms Mahmod approached the police four times in December 2005 to say that her father and uncle had threatened to kill her because of her relationship with Rhamat Suleimani, 28. She even gave the police a list of 30 Kurdish men who she thought they would ask to attack her.
That list included the name of Hama, 30, who admitted her murder. It also contained the names of two other Kurdish men, who cannot be named for legal reasons, who have fled to Iraq where they have openly boasted of raping Ms Mahmod before garrotting her with a bootlace, cramming her body in a suitcase and burying it more than 100 miles from her home.
Ms Mahmod's ordeal was made present in court by a mobile phone recording made by Mr Suleimani on New Year's Eve, 2005: the first time Ms Mahmod's father tried to kill her. In the recording, made after police dismissed Ms Mahmod's appeals, she said that she was “really scared”.
After fleeing her family that night, Ms Mahmod returned home later in January. The day before she disappeared police offered her refuge in a safe house, but she turned down the offer, saying she felt safe at home as long as her mother was there.
The trial turned on the events of the last weeks of 2005, when Ms Mahmod became convinced of a plot, made by her uncle, to have her and her boyfriend killed. She first told police on December 4 about the threat, but when they came to investigate, Ms Mahmod's mother, Behya, turned officers away from the family house in Mitcham, South London.
A week later, Ms Mahmod sent officers the list of people she suspected of being involved in the plot, but no action was taken until New Year's Eve, when Ms Mahmod called 999 after breaking a window with her wrists and escaping from her grandmother's house, where she said she had been plied with alcohol and attacked.
The police inquiry will focus on how WPC Angela Cornes responded to Ms Mahmod's call.
Despite being confronted by a woman covered in blood after smashing a window to flee her father, the officer failed to record in her report or take seriously Ms Mahmod’s claims that he had forced her to drink brandy – the Muslim woman’s first taste of alcohol – and tried to kill her.
Instead WPC Cornes believed the woman was drunk and melodramatic and had even considered charging her with criminal damage for breaking the window, a consideration backed by her inspector.
During the trial, Detective Inspector Caroline Goode, who led the investigation into Ms Mahmod's death, said she had spoken to WPC Cornes about her “mistakes” in dealing with the young woman.
Ms Goode told the jury she was surprised at the junior officer’s “arrogant” response and her apparent belief that she had done anything wrong: “She believed that Banaz had made the whole thing up to get her boyfriend’s attention," she said.
After failing to gain police protection, Ms Mahmod recorded her fears of her family on Mr Suleimani's mobile phone and took refuge at his house. But two days later, her mother and sisters, under threats of violence from her father, persuaded to come home where pretended that she had broken off her relationship with her boyfriend.
But her subterfuge only lasted a few weeks, when she was spotted kissing Mr Suleimani in Brixton on January 22 and her father was informed.
That night a group of men approached Mr Suleimani and tried to lure him into a car, but he refused, and told his Ms Mahmod about it. She went again to the police station to tell them what had happened and repeated her claims about the New Year’s Eve murder attempt and this time was advised to stay in a safe house – she felt safe enough to go home.
The next day her parents went out, leaving men to come to the family home and murder their daughter, the Old Bailey heard. Months later her strangled body was discovered in a Birmingham back garden.
Missed chances:
December, 4, 2005: Ms Mahmod goes to Mitcham police station to report that her uncle had threatened to kill her.
December 31, 2005: Father forces Ms Mahmod to drink brandy and tries to kill her. In hospital Mr Suleimani makes videophone recording of her saying that her father and uncle want her dead. Police attend hospital. She goes to live at Mr Suleimani’s home.
January 2, 2006: Ms Mahmod's sisters and mother meet her and persuade her to return to family home.
January, 22: Mr Suleimani threatened in Hounslow.
January 23: Mr Suleimani reports incident to Kennington police station. Ms Mahmod goes to Mitcham police station and reports threats to her and Mr Suleimani’s life. Turns down a room in a hostel.
5.50pm: Ms Mahmod returns home. Her father and uncle speak by telepone.
6.30pm: The couple speak secretly on mobile phone
January 24: The father leaves Ms Mahmod home alone. She is murdered at the house. Her father and uncle speak on the telephone. Police later call at house, father says daughter is out.
January 25: Mr Suleimani reports Banaz missing. Police visit her parents who did not want to report her missing.
January 27: Specialist Crime Directorate contacted after it emerges Banaz’s mobile or bank account had not been used. Full scale investigation launched.
April 28: Her body is found in a suitcase in Birmingham.
Father killed daughter who loved wrong man
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