At least 20 years will be served by the man who murdered his pregnant wife by pushing her off Edinburgh’s Arthur’s Seat just days before she was to leave him.
After a six-day trial in the high court in Edinburgh, 29-year-old Leeds resident Kashif Anwar was found guilty of the September 2021 murders of Fawziyah Javed, 31, and her unborn child.
What happened to Javed?
Fatima, who was about 17 weeks pregnant at the time of her death, was pushed off of Arthur’s Seat, the historic volcano that towers over the Scottish capital. She fell 15 metres (50 feet) to the ground below, where she suffered several blunt force injuries and eventually died.She told her witness, Daniyah Rafique, “Don’t allow my husband near me, he pushed me,” as she lay dying, revealing that her violent husband, Anwar, had carried out the fatal shove.
Under questioning by a police officer, Javed revealed that his wife, 35-year-old Rhiannon Clutton, had informed him she wanted to quit the marriage, prompting him to commit the murder. The judge, Lord Beckett, gave Anwar a life sentence with a mandatory minimum of 20 years in jail. You have been found guilty of murdering Fawziyah Javed, a very special person,” he informed Anwar.
You killed your pregnant wife and the child inside of her. He told the murderer that the victim had trusted him to keep her safe atop Arthur’s Seat, but that he had pushed her off the cliff while no one was looking.
Source: Head Topics
What did the Judge said?
The judge cited Yasmin Javed, Javed’s mother, as saying her daughter was a “beautiful soul inside and out” and quite popular amongst the female population. Some jurors were seen crying after hearing the verdict, and the judge expressed appreciation for the “admirable way” they had carried out their duty. There are no words to express the depth of sadness and grief,” Javed’s mother said in a statement. No words in the English language can adequately describe it.
A month before to the murder, the court heard that Anwar was overheard in the hospital telling Javed that if she died in childbirth it “would be Good” since he “would be free.” Anwar was overheard by a midwife at Leeds general infirmary on 23 August 2021, expressing anxiety to his wife. The midwife confided in Javed, an employment lawyer, about her worries.
A patient informed 41-year-old Elizabeth Petty that Javed had been told, “If you died during childbirth it would be Alright.” It would set me free. The midwife testified that when she asked Javed from Leeds whether that was what was said, he agreed it was and that Javed’s wife looked afraid and worried.
Francesca Cooper, 34, had overheard Javed and another person talking in the bed next to hers. She testified in court that he had been abusive towards her: “I could hear him repeatedly calling her a bitch,” she said. “I could hear him repeatedly saying he should never have married her, wishing he never married her, and if one of them died during childbirth, that would be good because they would be free from one another.”
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