'Don't let my husband near me, he pushed me': Pregnant woman's last words before falling off Arthur's Seat
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND: Kashif Anwar, 29, was found guilty of murdering his wife Fawziyah Javed, 31, by a jury at the High Court in the Scottish capital on Thursday, April 6. Judge Lord Beckett levied a mandatory life sentence on Anwar with an imprisonment period of a minimum of 20 years. In a chilling CCTV footage, the convict can be seen leading his young lawyer wife to her death before pushing her off Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh.
Anwar reportedly pushed his wife, who was 17 weeks pregnant, off Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh because she wanted to end their marriage after months of domestic abuse. Javed fell 50ft to her death in the act that also killed her unborn child on September 2, 2021. However, she did not die immediately and was rather left fatally injured. Javed let her dying words help her seek justice as she said "Don't let my husband near me, he pushed me," to a witness who came to her rescue. The witness told the court that Javed also asked "if she was going to die" and if her baby "was going to die."
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Javed's mother had set up a text code 'I like cream cakes' to alert police
Anwar was reportedly evidently "violent" toward his wife which led to his mother-in-law setting up a text code to alert the police. Javed's mother told her daughter to text her the secret code, "I like cream cakes" in case she needed help as her abusive husband monitored their texts and calls. The court heard that Anwar stole £12,000 from Javed's bank account when she was asleep. The mother also said that her daughter wanted out of the marriage just weeks after the wedding. Moreover, before the trip, Javed told the police that Anwar had knocked her out in a graveyard before placing a pillow over her head and punching it repeatedly.
'This young woman was degraded by her husband'
Anwar, from Leeds in West Yorkshire, denied the charge. However, he was found responsible after a week-long trial. Prosecutor David Green said that Javed's reports of abuse suffered by her husband helped the lawyers helped convict her husband of her murder. "This young woman was being degraded and controlled by her husband, but she found the strength to place on record what was going on," he said, as per Daily Mail. "Her own words, which were recorded by West Yorkshire Police, helped us prosecutors show that the tragedy on Arthur's Seat was the terrible culmination of a campaign of abuse." As Anwar was handcuffed and taken to the cells, a family member of Javed shouted "Die you b******" at him.
How did Anwar and Javed meet?
Recounting how Anwar and Javed got together, the victim's mother said that they first met at an optician in Leeds city center, near their home in Pudsey, where he worked as an optical assistant. Anwar apparently told Javed's mother that her daughter was the type of woman he wanted to marry one day when he found her alone. The couple then got married on December 25, 2020. However, complaints were raised within months of the wedding.
'Don't let my husband near me, he pushed me'
It was Daniyah Rafique, 24, who managed to reach the employment lawyer on the side of the landmark in the Scottish capital, where Javed had fallen. Rafique was told: "Don't let my husband near me, he pushed me," by Javed who was fatally injured at the scene. Witnesses saw Javed "writhing" in pain in her final moments. Rafique told the court that Anwar looked "panicked" and told her that his wife had fallen off the hillside but he could not see her. Recounting the events, Rafique said: "She said she was really scared. She kept saying, 'Don't let my husband near me, he pushed me. 'I said this to her a few more times: 'He pushed you?''" To which Javed replied: "Yes, I think so," before two officers approached.
Rhiannon Clutton, 35, was one of the officers who attended the night Javed was murdered. "I asked her what had happened," Clutton said. To which Javed replied: "He pushed me." Clutton then asked who had pushed her and why, to which Javed said: "My husband because I told him I wanted to end it." Clutton added: "She asked me why he was like that and she asked me to keep him away from her." Javed's condition got worse when the fire service joined the rescue operation. Clutton stated that Javed became "unresponsive" when CPR was performed. She was declared dead at around 10.18 pm on September 2.