Daughter 'killed over secret boyfriend'

The trial is being heard at Manchester Crown Court

A student grappled with her elderly father after finding him stabbing her sister to death for having a boyfriend in the bedroom, a court heard.

Majida Mohammed described how she used her mobile phone to warn her sister, Shahida, when their father returned home unexpectedly from evening prayer at a mosque in Manchester.

But when Faqir Mohammed, 69, a devout Muslim, discovered his daughter's boyfriend locked in her upstairs bedroom, he grabbed her and stabbed her to death.

Mr Mohammed, from Swinton Grove, Longsight, Manchester, chased student Bilal Amin round the upstairs of the house, before he jumped out of an upstairs window and fled.

He just carried on stabbing my sister

Majida Mohammed

Running downstairs, the father-of-ten caught his 24-year-old daughter, Shahida, in a head-lock, repeatedly stabbing her in the head and stomach.

Speaking from behind a curtain so that her father could not see her, Miss Mohammed told the jury at Manchester Crown Court how, after warning Shahida, her sister came downstairs - locking her bedroom behind her.

But unknown to her, her father had a spare key, and he found Mr Amin lying, fully clothed, on her sister's bed, the court heard.

Plunging knife

After chasing Mr Amin, he grabbed Shahida in a head-lock.

Miss Mohammed told the court: "When she went into the hallway, I heard her say 'Dad, what's wrong? Dad, what are you doing?'"

Shahida then started screaming and Miss Mohammed told the jury how she saw her father plunging a knife into her sister's stomach.

She said: "Her head was down and her hair was falling down over her face.

Arranged marriages

"She was trying to kick off and he was trying to get her on the floor.

"He was trying to look into her face. She was shouting 'Hit me. Go on, hit me'."

Questioned by Paul Reid QC, prosecuting, Miss Mohammed wept as she recalled: "He just carried on stabbing my sister."

The court then heard how Mr Mohammed - who was listening to evidence through an interpreter in the dock - was a "strict Muslim" who thought each of his daughters should go back to Pakistan for arranged marriages. He denies murdering his daughter.

The case continues.