Pregnant Muslim teenager 'stabbed to death by Sikh love rival' was disappointed with her arranged marriage
Last updated at 15:43pm on 14th November 2007
Victim: Sana Ali was pregnant when she was killed by her husband's lover
Husband: Sair Ali ended his relationship with Sanghera after the killing
A pregnant Muslim teenager, allegedly stabbed to death by her Sikh love rival, was disappointed with her arranged marriage, a court heard today.
Sana Ali, 17, told her mother she was feeling lonely in the days leading up to her death because her husband waswas lonely and disappoint staying out late.
Harmohinder Kaur Sanghera, 23, had been having an affair with the victim's husband, Sair Ali, for nearly two years, Manchester Crown Court heard yesterday.
It is alleged Ms Sanghera stabbed Mrs Ali 42 times in the bedroom of her detached house in Bury, Greater Manchester, in an act of "jealousy and desperation".
One of the wounds penetrated deep into the abdomen of Mrs Ali, who was 11 weeks' pregnant at the time of her death on May 11 this year.
Under cross-examination, Mrs Ali's mother, Maryam Fatima, of Cheetham Hill, Manchester, admitted her youngest child had raised concerns about the relationship shortly before her death. The cousins had been engaged for up to eight years before they married in Pakistan in December 2006.
She agreed with Miss Sasha Wass, defending, that Sana had told her she was lonely and disappointed. Mrs Fatima said: "He used to come home late but Sair really cared for her.
"She was mentally immature, so therefore I needed to explain things to her. I gave her courage and she was fine with Sair."
Miss Wass asked her if she knew about her daughter hurting herself deliberately. "No," replied Mrs Fatima.
Mr Ali's sister Yasmin, who found the body, also said she had no knowledge of Mrs Ali committing self-harm.
However, she said her first thought when discovering the blood-stained body was that she (Sana) had inflicted the injuries on herself.
She explained to Miss Wass she was under the impression the house was fully locked and "seeing her alone made me think that".
The jury of nine women and three men were told Yasmin Ali went round to the house after her sister-in-law did not answer phone calls from her mother or husband.
The witness said she was aware her brother had a relationship with Mindy (Sanghera) and that she was more than a friend.
The Crown Prosecution Service say the Birmingham University dentistry student knew her love rival would be in the house alone as she drove from her home in Monastery Drive, Solihull, West Midlands, to confront her.
She resented that Sana Ali was carrying her lover's child and brutally murdered her in a ferocious and sustained attack, it is alleged.
Her bare footprints, which were found on the work surface near the open kitchen window, suggested that was the way she left the otherwise secure house, the prosecution allege. Sanghera denies murder.
Mr Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, told the court yesterday that Sanghera had been having an affair with Sana's husband Sair since July 2005.
The relationship continued despite the Alis' arranged marriage in December last year, although Mr Ali hid the fact from Sanghera for most of the time.
Mr Wright said whoever murdered Mrs Ali at her home in Throstle Grove had deliberately lifted her top while she lay on the bedroom floor and stabbed her in her abdomen.
"The deeply personal element points unhappily, and unequivocally, to the identity of the killer being the defendant," he said.
"You may conclude from the evidence that the defendant not only resented Sana Ali but resented that she was expecting the child of her husband."
He said the relationship between Mr Ali and Sanghera, of Monastery Drive, Solihull, ended when she killed her rival for his affections in May this year.
Mrs Ali lived in a large four-bedroom detached home on the outskirts of Bury with her husband and his parents following the arranged marriage.
Born in Pakistan, she was shy and reserved and did not go out very often.
From childhood she had been considered to marry her cousin who was also of the Shia Muslim faith.
The court was told Sanghera, a Birmingham University student in her final year of exams, had been in a relationship with Mr Ali for two years.
Mr Ali and the defendant, known as Mindy, met through a mutual friend in the summer of 2005 and soon after started a relationship, but concealed it from his parents.
Mr Wright said: "From the outset Sair Ali lived a lie. He did not tell the defendant he was engaged to be married. As the relationship became more serious Sair used religion as a pretence for a reason why it could not last."
Sanghera persisted though and soon began to change her habits to suit his religion. She was even prepared to convert to the Muslim faith and went to see a prominent Shia figure to explore the possibility of a mixed marriage.
Mr Ali made several attempts to end the relationship but his efforts were "half-hearted".
"The weakness of Sair Ali and the determination of Sanghera was a dangerous combination," Mr Wright said.
In December 2006 Mr Ali flew out to Pakistan for the marriage ceremony but lied to his lover that he was going to Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage.
Sanghera became suspicious and Mr Ali told her he was engaged.
Mr Wright said he did not have the courage or decency then to tell her the truth that he was, in fact, married.
By this time, the Crown says, Sanghera was "infatuated" with Mr Ali and was "obsessive" in her pursuit of him.
Earlier this year she discovered he was married but sadly this did not deter her, the court heard.
Soon after, in March, Mr Ali told her his wife was pregnant but in a bid to keep the affair alive she said she was prepared to become his second wife.
He refused but eventually relented and the pair took part in a muta marriage ceremony, a temporary arrangement which allows a man and woman to live as husband and wife for a specified time.
In their case the time limit ran out on May 16 - five days after Mrs Ali was found stabbed to death.
On May 10 Sanghera told a friend she intended to end the relationship and was going to drive from her home in West Midlands to confess to Mrs Ali about their affair.
The Crown suggested she had other matters on her mind. She knew the victim's in-laws were abroad and she knew Mr Ali would be attending Friday prayers at his local mosque on May 11.
Sanghera went to the house armed with a kitchen knife for a visit that was not intended to be a social call, the jury of nine women and three men heard.
Later that afternoon, relatives of Mrs Ali found her blood-stained body in her bedroom.
When arrested, Sanghera told police Mrs Ali let her in through the back door because the front door was locked.
She said she told Mrs Ali she was an ex-girlfriend of her husband called Mariam and had sent a teddy bear to him. They went upstairs to the bedroom where she was shown the bear and they then chatted on the bed.
Sanghera said Mrs Ali was "alive and well, if not a little upset" when she left the house to drive home.
When Mr Ali found out that his wife had been brutally murdered he phoned Sanghera.
The court was told she did not mention calling on Mrs Ali and merely discussed flying out to Milan or Paris with him for a weekend away.
Mr Wright said the defendant was a highly intelligent woman who was forensically aware.
Her bare footprints were found on the work surface near the open kitchen window, suggesting that was the method she left the house. Sanghera said she had clambered up to the window when Mrs Ali asked for her help to close it.
Mr Wright said for the defendant to be not responsible, someone else had gained access and repeatedly stabbed her in a sustained and ferocious attack.
He said: "It is the Crown's case that this was no murder by a random psychopath who happened to pass after Sanghera left. This was borne of jealousy and desperation."
Sanghera denies murder.
The trial was adjourned to tomorrow.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...766&ito =1490
------------
sikh woman kills muslim lovers wife
Desi people are weird. 
