A ‘jealous’ illegal immigrant living in Oldham who murdered his ‘westernised’ Muslim wife for having sex with one of her lovers has been handed a life sentence.
Jahangir Nazar, 35, was found guilty of murdering Farkhanda Younis, 30, and has been ordered to serve a minimum of 22 years in prison yesterday.
Despite stabbing her 19 times Nazar had previously only admitted to manslaughter charges on the grounds of diminished responsibility, but was found guilty of murder following a three-week trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Sentencing Judge Ingrid Smiler said: “He engaged in a frenzied and ferocious knife attack inflicting 19 wounds – the majority into her neck. Such was the force and severity that part of the knife was broken into the neck.
“The knife severed her spinal cord. She can have been in no position to defend herself.”
Ms Younis, who was known to her friends as Jabeen, was murdered as part of an honour killing in the early hours of April 19 last year at her home in Chadderton.
Pakistan-born Nazar had launched into an uncontrollable rage after Ms Younis – described as ‘a very attractive and flirtatious woman’ met up with a married man for sex to ‘celebrate his birthday’.
Nazar had tried to call her 25 times, but none of the calls were answered and he laid in wait for her to return home.
During the frenzied attack Ms Younis was stabbed in the neck while her six-year-old son, from a previous marriage, slept in his bedroom.
Her body was found under her duvet after the little boy rang 999 because he couldn’t rouse her and her bedroom door was locked.
After murdering his wife Nazar attempted to flee the country and was arrested by police at Newcastle train station four days later carrying a suitcase filled with clothes and £1,000 in cash.
David Harley, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West said: “Throughout the trial, he has tried to hide behind the defence of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, claiming that when he killed Ms Younis he was suffering from a mental illness which substantially impaired his responsibility for his actions.
“However, the evidence proved that there was a history of domestic violence in their relationship; Nazar was a controlling and violent husband who on this occasion subjected his wife to a merciless attack which brought her life to an end.”
The jury was told Nazar had married Ms Younis in an Islamic ceremony in 2012 in the belief marriage would allow him to stay in Britain.
The offender worked at a local Indian takeaway while she got a job at a furniture store and was said to have initially been ‘head over heels’ in love with her husband.
But prosecutor John Jones QC said Nazar was a ‘possessive, controlling and violent partner’ who used installed a tracking app device on his wife’s mobile phone to check up on her movements whenever she was out.
Mr Jones said: “It’s clear that Jabeen and the defendant had entirely different attitudes to life – it’s clear from others who witnessed the couple that the defendant was very possessive and very controlling of Jabeen.
“She was far more Westernised, outgoing and one has to say, promiscuous in the conduct of her life, if what other witnesses say about her is correct.
“Jabeen lived in every sense an entirely Westernised lifestyle. She went to nightclubs, she had many boyfriends, she drank alcohol and she wore Westernised designer clothing.”
Mr Jones added that it was clear that Jabben was a very attractive and flirtatious woman, which Nazar resented and sought control over, and on the night in question, it led to uncontrollable rage.
He continued: “The end result was a significant attack by a man fearful of deportation, jealous of other men, and resentful of the promiscuity of his girlfriend.”
The court also heard that a month before the murder Nazar had threatened to kill Ms Younis after a row over her lifestyle.
Judge Smiler added: “He wanted her to wear a head scarf and did not approve of her style or her new friends or the fact she went to nightclubs and the like.
“Within a short period of time your disapproval of her vivaciousness and zest for life manifested itself in violence which you inflicted by beating, punching and strangling her.
“In addition to this you became jealous, possessive and controlling and tried to prevent her seeing her family and friends.”
Speaking after the court case a statement from her family was released. It said: “Fand was a hardworking, devoted mother. Everything she did was for her family and her children.
“Her husband, Jahangir Nazar has brutally murdered Fand in the most awful way, stabbing her multiple times in the neck causing catastrophic un-survivable injuries. He has carried out this deliberate and unprovoked attack whilst her six-year-old son was asleep in the next room.
“We believe that the reason Fand was murdered was because she wanted to end the relationship due to the domestic violence she had been subjected to. She refused to assist Nazar in obtaining a permanent Visa as he was facing the possibility of deportation.”
Carla Cutting, a friend of Ms Younis told the court that Jabeen was always talking about her husband and showing pictures of him.
”Jabeen was always talking about him and showing pictures of him,” she said.
”She was very proud of him and at first seemed head over heels – but their relationship was very stormy. She was talking about splitting up with him but then they would be back together.
“The last time I spoke to Jabeen was on Facebook two days before her death. She said she could not talk because ‘you know who’ was present.”
Carla recalled one occasion about a month before Jabeen’s death, where she was present when Jabeen was speaking to Nazar on her mobile phone.
She continued: “The phone was on loudspeaker so I could hear both sides of the conversation, I could hear them arguing – I heard him threaten to give her a slap and then say, I will kill you.
“At the time I just thought this had been said in anger, in the heat of the moment, rather than a genuine threat.”
Story via Cavendish Press.
