Shafilea's Father 'Hit Her On Last Night'

Shafilea Ahmed's mother has told the jury at her murder trial she saw her husband hitting and slapping Shafilea on the last night she was seen alive.

Farzana Ahmed sat in the witness box next to her translator and gave her responses in Punjabi. She and her husband Iftikhar deny murdering their 17-year-old daughter.

Farzana Ahmed said on the evening of September 11, 2003, she came downstairs and saw her husband hitting Shafilea in the kitchen of their home in Warrington.

She told the jury: "He slapped her twice and punched her twice."

She added he was saying to their daughter: "We have done so much for you and you're still messing about."

Farzana Ahmed said she asked her husband what Shafilea had done and he responded "had you been educated you'd have known what she was doing".

She said she tried to stop him but he pushed and punched her. "He was very angry. I've never seen him so angry," she told the court.

Her daughter Mevish then came into the room and tried to stop her father, Farzana Ahmed said. But she pushed Mevish away and took her upstairs because she was scared he would hit Mevish too.

Farzana Ahmed said when she came back downstairs her husband and Shafilea were gone.

She said when he returned between 6am and 6.30am the following morning she asked where Shafilea was and he said: "If you care about your life and your children's lives do not ask me that question again."

She said Iftikhar Ahmed had told her and the children that if anyone asked about Shafilea they should say she left the house by herself.

Farzana Ahmed was speaking very quietly in court and at times her responses were barely audible. Her husband watched with no expression on his face as she made her claims.

She said she was frightened of her husband and claimed "my husband beats me up". She said it had been going on since they were married.

Until last week Farzana Ahmed had always given the same version of events as her husband. She admitted she had lied to police and told the jury she had been saying what her husband had told her to.

She said she only changed her story because she is in prison, as is her husband, and she therefore felt safe.

Previously another of their daughters, Alesha, told the jury she witnessed both her parents suffocate Shafilea with a plastic bag and claimed her mother said "just finish it here".

Alesha said both parents had been violent towards Shafilea during arguments over her "Western" lifestyle.

The trial continues.

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