GUILTY UK - Hashim Ijazuddin, 21, and Saqib Hussain, 20, car crash A46 Leicester 11 Feb 2022 *Murder Arrests*

[RusselSprout]

The case is beginning​

Mahek Bukhari is back in the witness box. She is being cross-examined by the prosecutor Collingwood Thompson KC. He asked if she was really "pure of heart", which was how she described herself yesterday, considering lies she had told to not only the police but also her co-accused Rekan Karwan.
Mr Thompson told her: "I'm going to take you through those lies."

'Murder is serious - why not tell the truth?'​

Mr Thompson asked why she lied - such as telling the police she had been in Nottingham - when she knew she was suspected of murder. He said: "Murder is serious - why not tell the truth?"
Mahek said she lied because she was concerned for her family if news of her mother's affair got out. "I knew that secret coming out was a big thing."
Mr Thompson said she lied to defend herself against the murder charge: "You realised that would give you a motive for getting rid of Saqib Hussain."
He said she also lied about having gone to Leicester "by accident" - she said diversions took her to the city when she tried to go to Nottingham. Mr Thompson said that lie wasn't necessary to protect her mother's reputation.

'There was just so much going on'​

Asked about her lies, she said: "I didn't want anything to come out about my mum and her secret - I just didn't want the police knowing at all."
Mr Thompson asked why she didn't just pretend she was being blackmailed herself. She said there was "just so much going on" and she came up with the story that didn't include Saqib.

Lies about Natasha Akhtar's Seat Leon​

She also admitted she lied to the police about not knowing the blue Seat Leon was also in the Tesco car park.
She said: "I didn't want to involve anyone in the situation. There was just no need to involve anyone else. If I involved anyone else it was going to come out with my mum's secret."
Mr Thompson pointed out that Rekan Karwan and the others didn't know her mother's secret but she said she was worried it would lead to the secret coming out.
Mr Thompson said she was trying to "cover up" what she'd done. She answered: "No, that's not correct."

There was just so much going on​

When asked why she was lying about the incident on the A46 and the hours after, she said: "There was just so much going on."
Mr Thompson asked: "Is that going to be your explanation for everything? That there was so much going on?"
She said: "There was so much going on."
He asked: "Didn't you think, 'This is very serious, I'd better tell the truth?'"
She said: "No, not at the time."

Mahek challenged over 999 tape reaction​

Mr Thompson asked her why she didn't realise her lies were not holding up and just be honest with the detectives. She replied: "No, I couldn't do that, unfortunately. It was too much for my family."
Mr Thompson said: "And that was the motive for trying to get rid of Saqib? Trying to stop him?" She answered: "No."
He then asked about how she launched an attack on Saqib after hearing the tape of him dying in a crash, describing him as "psychotic" and a liar. Mr Thompson said: "Your reaction [to hearing the recording] was simply to say he lied so much. You've just listened to a recording of a man's life ending."

Mahek knew they would see through lies if they got into her phone​

The prosecution allege Mahek had deliberately given the police the wrong PIN code, knowing that if they could see her messages they would know she had been lying.
She said that was not true. She said: "I'd given 6235 and there was an extra number. It was an extra 5. There was so much going on. It was one digit that was missing."
Mr Thompson said: "You know what happens when you put the wrong code into a phone - you get only so many attempts and then the phone locked. You're saying it was an accident."
She said: "Yes it was."

Mahek Bukhari gives evidence in murder trial - day 17

Mahek has been giving evidence in her defence

www.leicestermercury.co.uk

 

[RusselSprout]

'You were intending to lie to a jury, weren't you?'​

Now Mr Thompson is asking about the defence case statement Mahek provided to the court and the other barristers in the case. Mr Thompson said: "This was a detailed statement and in it you're supposed to set out the nature of what your defence to the charges was."
In it Mahek denied knowing about the relationship between Saqib and her mother. Mr Thompson asked why. She said: "It was a big thing." Mr Thompson said: "So is being on trial for murder."
It was only after data from Saqib's phone was obtained that Mahek changed her defence case statement. Mr Thompson said that if that data hadn't been obtained she would have lied to the police.
Mr Thompson said: "You would have been lying to a jury."
She replied that it was only after the data was obtained that she was certain there had been a relationship. She said: "That's when I had to genuinely accept there was a relationship."

'My family's just such a big thing to me'​

Mr Thompson asked again why lied about so much. She replied: "My family's just such a big thing to me. I don't want to wreck that ever."
He said: "The reason you're denying the relationship was that you knew that was the motive for why Saqib had to be silenced and you didn't want the police to know."
She said: "That's not correct."
He asked her again about lying about messages with others. He said: "Why did you have to lie in your defence case statement?"
She replied: "I wouldn't know, sorry."

Mahek Bukhari gives evidence in murder trial - day 17

Mahek has been giving evidence in her defence

www.leicestermercury.co.uk

 

[RusselSprout]

I know this isnt the brightest way to look at things, but i think if i was a juror id be thinking unless any of these defendants tell the truth, im convicting each one of them of murder. The must be guilty to be lying so much !!!!!

 

[RusselSprout]

Mahek accused of lying about what others knew​

Mahek claims Rekan Karwan, who was helping her with Saqib's payment of £2,000, did not know about the relationship between Mahek's mother Ansreen and Saqib. But the text messages between them, Mr Thompson said, proved that Karwan knew about the affair and Mahek knew he knew.
Mr Thompson said: "Rekan Karwan must have known it was all about your mum."
She denied having told him. She said: "He didn't mention it to me. Even if he did have an inkling he would have kept it to himself, respectfully."

Picture of Saqib on Mahek's phone​

Mr Thompson accuses Mahek of having a picture of Saqib on her phone so the others would know who to attack. She said she kept it on her phone because he was making fake pictures of her and she would post his picture so others would know who had been doing it. She said: "I kept it saved on there. When he was making images of me I was going to post it out."
Mr Thompson suggested she used the picture to let her co-defendants know was Saqib looked like. She said that wasn't true.

Mahek Bukhari gives evidence in murder trial - day 17

Mahek has been giving evidence in her defence

www.leicestermercury.co.uk

 

[RusselSprout]

Mahek came up with plan to meet in Leicester​

When asked how the plan to meet in Leicester came about she said: "[Saqib] was going to bring a group of guys and come to my door and tell my dad if I didn't pay him." She then said he was going to meet him in Loughborough but later the plan changed to Leicester.
Mr Thompson asked about Loughborough and whether she chose the town because defendant Raees Jamal lives there. She said she didn't know he lived there at the time.

Mahek questioned over when plans were made​

Mahek insisted she had not been planning to take Rekan and others to the meeting until the night of the crash. She said: "It was just going to be me and my mum to go to Leicester. Rekan wasn't going to be there."
She arrived at Rekan Karwan's house, she said, and asked them for a suggestion of where to meet Saqib and they recommended Tesco in Hamilton. However, Saqib had already driven to another Tesco in Leicester, where he was seen on CCTV.
Mr Thompson said: "That's not accurate, is it? It's not true. He'd already gone to Tesco. Did he fortell the future in some way? Somehow he's ended up in a Tesco car park. What that plainly suggests is that he must have been told to go to Tesco before you arrived [at Rekan Karwan's house]."
She said that wasn't true.

Mahek Bukhari gives evidence in murder trial - day 17

Mahek has been giving evidence in her defence

www.leicestermercury.co.uk

 

[LouTennant]

I know this isnt the brightest way to look at things, but i think if i was a juror id be thinking unless any of these defendants tell the truth, im convicting each one of them of murder. The must be guilty to be lying so much !!!!!

With the amount of lying going on its actually got me thinking that there could be more layers to this storey. Mabe Ansreen and Mahek have be TOLD by the other defendants that there will be serious repercussions if the tell the truth.

Those repercussions could extend beyond themselfs. My very first post on this situation was for people to tell the truth and hope the court shows mercy. I still doubting that will happen but with so much time left at this trail there could be some twists and turns. Im hoping that someone breaks.

IMO

 

[Legal]

Did he foretell the future?!!!

I think the tik tokker/influencer/ celebrity has met her match!!!

 

[Legal]

With the amount of lying going on its actually got me thinking that there could be more layers to this storey. Mabe Ansreen and Mahek have be TOLD by the other defendants that there will be serious repercussions if the tell the truth.

Those repercussions could extend beyond themselfs. My very first post on this situation was for people to tell the truth and hope the court shows mercy. I still doubting that will happen but with so much time left at this trail there could be some twists and turns. Im hoping that someone breaks.

IMO

Interesting! It's hard to say without actually knowing who any of these people are, but I suppose there is a possibility of gangland links. Mohammed Patel allegedly just tagging along to an early hours confrontation with a balaclava on his head and a weapon down his trousers is highly suspicious.

 

[RusselSprout]

Mahek asked about more text conversations and phone calls​

The jury is back after a short break. Mr Thompson and Mahek are still discussing how Saqib ended up at the wrong Tesco before Mahek had ever suggested Tesco - in her version.
"As far as you're concerned, the fact Saqib goes to the wrong Tesco is pure coinicidence. "
She answers: "Yep."

Mahek asked about Mohammed Patel being handed wheel brace​

Mr Thompson asked about DNA evidence that showed Mohammed Patel had touched the wheel brace from the back of Mahek's Audi TT. After his arrest, Patel told police he was given the wheel brace to put in his trousers ahead of the Tesco meeting.
Mahek admitted the Audi TT's dashboard would have indicated if the boot had been open for the wheel brace to taken out. But she said she doesn't remember it happening. She said: "My attention wasn't on what's going on around my car."
He asked her: "Are you seriously suggesting if someone opened the boot, lifted the carpet and taken the tool out you wouldn't have noticed?" She said she did not notice.

Mahek Bukhari gives evidence in murder trial - day 17

Mahek has been giving evidence in her defence

www.leicestermercury.co.uk

 

[RusselSprout]

'I didn't see anything'​

Mahek told Mr Thompson the boot did not open. She said: "I would have noticed if someone opened my boot."
Mr Thompson said: "Well that's what happened." She said: "Well I didn't see anything at all."
Mr Thompson accused her of not telling the truth. He said she knew Patel had a weapon. She replied: "My intention wasn't to cause [Saqib] any harm or injury so why would we need weapons?"

Mahek would have told father about mum's affair in 'worse case scenario'​

Mr Thompson asked Mahek what she would have done if Saqib refused to delete the explicit material from his phone.
She said she would have told her father about her mother's affair. She said: "Worse case scenario, if he didn't listen, I would have let him be."

Mahek said threat to get Saqib 'jumped' was just anger​

One of her texts to her mother the month before the fatal crash said: "I'll make sure he gets jumped".
She was asked about that message and said: "I over-reacted, I was angry at the time. There was so much disrepect going to my mum."

Mahek had no idea others were in Seat Leon​

Mahek said she did not know anyone apart from the driver - Raees Jamal - was in the Seat Leon until they got back to Leicester after the fatal crash, she claimed. The car's owner, Natasha Akhtar, was also in the car, along with Raees's cousin Ammeer Jamal and another defendant, Sanaf Gulammustafa.
On Tuesday, giving her evidence, Mahek's mother said the same thing about not knowing there were others in the car. She said the car's windows were tinted so she could not see inside.

Mahek Bukhari gives evidence in murder trial - day 17

Mahek has been giving evidence in her defence

www.leicestermercury.co.uk

 

[RusselSprout]

'I needed my protection'​

Mahek admitted getting out of the Audi at Tesco to let Rekan Karwan and Mohammed Patel out of the car. She sid she didn't know where they went after they got out. When asked why they were there she said: "I needed my protection."
Mr Thompson asked: "Did you tell him you were coming with other people?" She said 'No,' and commented that she thought Saqib would be bringing other people, too.
Mr Thompson said: "He wouldn't have known. If he'd seen two other people in your car, he would have realised it was a set-up." She replied "No".

Why did you chase car if you didn't know it was Saqib?​

Mahek, like her mother on Tuesday, told the jury she did not know Saqib and Hashim had entered the Tesco car park in Hamilton. She was asked by Mr Thompson why the Seat Leon, and later the Audi, pursued the Skoda.
She said: "Well I don't know yet because I hadn't spotted the Skoda yet." Mr Thompson said: "Well exactly."
Mahek, like her mother, then claimed that Rekan Karwan had suggested it might be Saqib in the Skoda.
She said it was the only other car around, so it was just assumed it could be Saqib.

'I was there at the time, Mr Thompson, so I knew exactly what happened'​

Prosecutor Mr Thompson accuses Mahek of telling lies. She replied: "The only time I lied was in my interview."
Mr Thompson pointed out she had also lied to Rekan Karwan, according to her version of events. She said that was true. She added everything she was saying today about the night of the crash was true. She said: "I was there at the time, Mr Thompson, so I knew exactly what happened."

Mahek Bukhari gives evidence in murder trial - day 17

Mahek has been giving evidence in her defence

www.leicestermercury.co.uk

 

[RusselSprout]

'He got trigggered'​

Mr Thompson asks Mahek about the pursuit and why they kept going. He asked: "It's perfectly obvious he didn't want to stop. So what were you going to do?"
Mahek said she was on the phone to Saqib while they were "following" the Skoda, she was trying to get Saqib to pull over somewhere else so they could talk, she said. She said: "I had a heated three-minute conversation with him. He's mentioned he's seen a man driving my car with my mum in the passenger and that basically got him triggered.
"He's saying 'your mum's cheating on me' and 'I'm going to your house'. I was telling him, 'Stop and talk, that's the reason we've come to Leicester'. But he was refusing 'cause he got trigggered."
Mr Thompson asked Mahek if she had threatened him and she said no. Mr Thompson said: "Within seconds of that call he's calling 999. What did you say to him?" She said she had not said anything that would have made him call the police.

'I didn't kill them. I didn't'​

Mahek said Hashim, behind the wheel of the Skoda, had been swerving around on the road. She denied there was ever any pursuit and they were just following him, waiting for him to agree to pull over.
Mr Thompson said: "This is nonsense, your story. He was in fear for his life". Mahek replied that Saqib didn't need to be in fear. Mr Thompson said Saqib had been driven off the road. She said: "I didn't kill them. I didn't."
Mahek said Saqib had lied to the police by not saying she and her mum were in the Audi.

Mahek Bukhari gives evidence in murder trial - day 17

Mahek has been giving evidence in her defence

www.leicestermercury.co.uk

 

[RusselSprout]

Mahek asked about 'Ram him' call between drivers​

There is phone evidence of a conversation between the two cars during the final part of the pursuit. Mahek said she didn't remember what was being discussed. She said: "My focus wasn't on their phone call."
She is asked if someone said "ram him" during the phone call and she said 'No'.
Mr Thompson tells Mahek the ANRP camera proved the three cars were close together. She said they were not close.
She then said the issues were with the Skoda being driven. She said: "That's the way the Skoda was driving".
Mr Thompson said: "You don't think the way it was driving was to do with the fact it was being pursued." She said no.
She said: "I accept the cars were going fast. They were putting themselves in danger by getting close to our car."

'I knew eventually he would stop'​

Mahek said she "knew eventually" that Saqib would stop. She said the Skoda lost control before that could happen.
She said she did not see the crash itself. She said: "I didn't see it going off the central reservation. I knew it had lost control. I didn't know it had crashed. I didn't see it. I turned away."

Mahek Bukhari gives evidence in murder trial - day 17

Mahek has been giving evidence in her defence

www.leicestermercury.co.uk

 

[Legal]

Do we know if any of the defendants who were arrested in the immediate aftermath were breathalysed or tested for drugs? All this stuff about "there was so much going on" and the escalation of events makes me wonder if perhaps they'd been doing coke before the events took place.

 

[LouTennant]

Do we know if any of the defendants who were arrested in the immediate aftermath were breathalysed or tested for drugs? All this stuff about "there was so much going on" and the escalation of events makes me wonder if perhaps they'd been doing coke before the events took place.

Yes good point. If I remember correctly Mohammed Patel did mention that he had taken cannabis before he turned up to meet the others. So far the prosecution has not mentioned drugs as being a factor so mabe we will never know?

Not high lighting drugs as being a factor would be a good call from the prosecution. I think they know that all the defendants will use any excuse under the sun to get off.

IMO

 

[Legal]

Yes good point. If I remember correctly Mohammed Patel did mention that he had taken cannabis before he turned up to meet the others. So far the prosecution has not mentioned drugs as being a factor so mabe we will never know?

Not high lighting drugs as being a factor would be a good call from the prosecution. I think they know that all the defendants will use any excuse under the sun to get off.

IMO

very true!

 

[LouTennant]

It always give me a chuckle when suspects say they are now telling the truth in court after the police work
totally shoots down there original statements

Maheks truth on the stand is totally being ignorant of everything going on around her on that night.

Prosecutors are not like fans on the internet who fawn and praise every comment and picture.
It looks like Mahek is going to get a massive reality check.

 

[Smkd]

Mr Thompson asked why she lied - such as telling the police she had been in Nottingham - when she knew she was suspected of murder. He said: "Murder is serious - why not tell the truth?"Mahek said she lied because she was concerned for her family if news of her mother's affair got out. "I knew that secret coming out was a big thing."

…

He then asked about how she launched an attack on Saqib after hearing the tape of him dying in a crash, describing him as "psychotic" and a liar. Mr Thompson said: "Your reaction [to hearing the recording] was simply to say he lied so much. You've just listened to a recording of a man's life ending."

Pff yeah right, she lied because of her mum’s affair and not because she was accused of murder. Come on

And the prosecutor is 100% right, does she not realise how horrible that comes across? Completely devoid of empathy, like even if she didn’t mean for him to die she’s not really that bothered about it

 

[Smkd]

'He got trigggered'​

"I had a heated three-minute conversation with him. He's mentioned he's seen a man driving my car with my mum in the passenger and that basically got him triggered.
"He's saying 'your mum's cheating on me' and 'I'm going to your house'. I was telling him, 'Stop and talk, that's the reason we've come to Leicester'. But he was refusing 'cause he got trigggered."

[…]

Mr Thompson said: "This is nonsense, your story. He was in fear for his life". Mahek replied that Saqib didn't need to be in fear. Mr Thompson said Saqib had been driven off the road. She said: "I didn't kill them. I didn't."
Mahek said Saqib had lied to the police by not saying she and her mum were in the Audi.

Mr Thompson tells Mahek the ANRP camera proved the three cars were close together. She said they were not close.
She then said the issues were with the Skoda being driven. She said: "That's the way the Skoda was driving".
Mr Thompson said: "You don't think the way it was driving was to do with the fact it was being pursued." She said no.
She said: "I accept the cars were going fast. They were putting themselves in danger by getting close to our car."

Oh my days, this girl. As if anyone believes that he called because he was angry that her mum was cheating. That may be the most unbelievable thing she has said so far considering he called 999 straight after and was terrified. It makes me question everything else she has said about him too.

And then she has the nerve to say that, well, he lied too for not saying we were in the other car! And they were terrible drivers anyway and did it to themselves. Girl stop lol it’s not a good look.

This reads to me that she’s getting irritated about being confronted and it’s probably not coming across well at all

 

[RusselSprout]

No conversation about crash​

Mahek said she didn't remember any conversation about the crash after the vehicles had passed the flaming wreck of the vehicle on their way home to Leicester. She said when they stopped in Leicester she and the others just walked around.
She said: "I had to go back to Leicester to have a breather. And the state of my mum as well. There was so much going on."
Mr Thompson asked: "Did you ring 999?" She said: "No, I froze. I didn't know what to do. There was so much going on."

Mahek Bukhari gives evidence in murder trial - day 17

Mahek has been giving evidence in her defence

www.leicestermercury.co.uk