A pregnant woman who was allegedly pushed to death by her husband near Arthur’s Seat in Scotland was asked by her mother to text her a code word if she felt in danger, a court has heard. Kashif Anwar, 29, is on trial and charged with the murder of his wife Fawziyah Javed, 31, by pushing her off the main hill group summit in Edinburgh in September 2021. “deeply concerned” about her daughter over alleged “violence” from Anwar.
Nighat Yasmin Javed told Attorney Deputy Alex Prentice KC: “I said if you think you are in danger just text me ‘I like cream cakes’, and I will contact the police.”
She said she ordered her daughter to do this because of the “abuse, violence, aggression and coercive control” in the relationship.
Ms Javed told the court that Anwar took £12,000 from her daughter’s bank account while she slept, among other things.
The victim’s mother said her daughter’s calls and texts were tapped by the accused, and that her daughter wanted to get out of the marriage between three or four months after the wedding.
Ms Javed told the jury, “The accused was abusive, controlling, manipulative, aggressive and violent towards her. She didn’t want to stay in a marriage like that, she wanted to leave.”
Anwar denied all allegations against him, including one of threatening and insulting her at a hotel the day before the alleged murder.
Ms Javed told the court she and her daughter first met Anwar at an optician in Leeds city centre, near their home in Pudsey, where he worked as an optical assistant.
The couple married in a Muslim wedding on Christmas Day 2020, but the court heard concerns were raised within months.
In court, jurors were told a recording of Ms. Javed working as an employment lawyer calling a law firm to get advice on getting a divorce.
The process also heard from 25-year-old James Duncan, who was walking up Arthur’s Seat with his girlfriend on the evening of 2 September when Mrs Javed was found.
He told the court: “I remember a few screams. One was from a woman screaming, then I heard a man scream after I heard the woman scream.”
Mr Duncan said shortly afterwards that he saw Anwar with another woman who was looking for a charged mobile phone to call emergency services.
He added: “The gentleman said his wife had fallen off the top and wanted me to call 999 to contact ambulance, police or emergency services to help them with the situation.”
The trial at the High Court of Edinburgh for Lord Beckett continues.