A Cheetham Hill mum was murdered because her Syrian-born husband had felt ‘insulted’ at her leaving him to become more Westernised, a court heard today.
Ahmed Khatib, 33, became resentful of mother-of-three Rania Alayed, 25, after she instructed a lawyer to help ‘free her’ from him, it was claimed at Manchester Crown Court.
She caused further anger by attending college and meeting male and female friends before beginning a relationship with another man she met over the internet.
After a family summit meeting failed in a bid to get the couple back together Rania was lured to a tower block in Salford where she was killed and her body stuffed in a suitcase, it was alleged
Khatib and his brother Muhned, 38, were then said to have transferred the body to the back of a motorhome before driving to the A19 near Thirsk in North Yorkshire where she was buried by the roadside. The remains of the victim have never been found.
Later after Khatib was arrested he told psychiatrists she died after he pushed her during a row whilst ‘possessed of spirit’. He claimed he accidentally causing her to stumble, fall and bang her head.
The court was told Khatib and Syrian-born Rania had married in December 1987 when she was just 15 and had three children together.
Prosecutor Tony Cross QC said it was a ‘love marriage’ rather than an arranged one but only came about as Rania’s sister was married to Khatib’s brother.
The couple fled the Middle East for Britain where Muhned was already living but in 2004 Rania began confiding in friends her husband was beating her, it was said.
Mr Cross said a friend witnessed the aftermath of an attack and added: ”She saw Khatib angry like a monster shouting he would kill her. It became clear to her that he and his family were controlling of her.”
”It appears he was violent, sexually and physically and would force her to give him money. She told one friend she feared he would kill her. How right she was was. He was prone to anger and openly displayed. He was contemptuous of females. He was also jealous.
”She had the courage to free herself from him using a solicitor and began to become a little Westernised. She went to college and had friends, male and female.
”This was all too much. During this period she was making friends outside her family circle. No doubt this was deeply resented by the defendant and in all probability by the rest of his family. He was desperate to affect a reconciliation.
”The family were very angry she had had the audacity to go to Law and one member even contacted her solicitor. They were insulted by her recourse to law. They wanted her and her children back within the family fold.
”It was obvious to them she was not going to comply with their wishes. They believed she was establishing an independent life perhaps with another man. Therefore it was decided she should either be coerced to comply or be killed.”
Rania’s uncle tried to help and was urged to persuade his niece not to get a divorce but during a family meeting she claimed Khatib had raped her. Khatib also took her phone believing she was using it to talk to other men.
Rania left the family home in Longsight, Manchester with the children to move to a hostel and later in May 2013 rented a property in Cheetham Hill.
She had also formed a relationship with a married man she met through an internet site Who’s Here.
Rania was last seen alive on June 7 last year when she met a friend in Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens and told of a plan to drop off her three children with her estranged husband via Muhned’s flat for the weekend.
That evening at around 8pm she was killed at the apartment after Muhned’s partner was allegedly told to stay away due to a ‘family meeting.’
The body was transferred to Muhned’s Leyland DAF 200 camper van and headed to the North East at 1.17am the followng morning.
Khatib, of Knutsford Road in Gorton, and Muhned, of Arthur Millwood Court, Salford, deny murder. Both admit perverting the course of justice.
A third brother Hussain Al-Khatib, 34, has pleaded not guilty to perverting the course of justice over the alleged concealment of her body.
The trial continues.
