Witness collapses at brother’s murder trial

Date published: 12 March 2014


A WITNESS in the trial of a man accused of murdering his wife in Chadderton last year collapsed under questioning at Manchester Crown Court yesterday.

Usma Safta, the sister of the defendant Jahinghar Nazar, was overcome with emotion at the revelation that her brother had killed his wife.

Mrs Safta was grilled over a series of phone calls made between her and her brother on April 19, the day after his wife, Farkhanda Younis (known as Jabeen), was found dead at the couple’s Bamford Street home, stabbed 19 times in the neck. Nazar has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to murder on the grounds of diminshed state of mind.

John Jones QC, prosecuting, ran through the list of calls made from 12.22pm through to 4.26pm. Mrs Safta said her brother had reported being “very sad” as a result of the calls.

Mrs Safta, her husband and another sister drove to Manchester from Leeds to collect Nazar.

Before their marriage at a traditional Muslim ceremony in summer 2012, Nazar was “jolly” and used to be “really good” with Mrs Safta’s children, taking them out and looking after them as well as making regular calls to his sister.

But Nazar’s mood changed following his marriage and he became quiet and distant.

The court heard that Nazar, raised in Pakistan, received treatment at a psychiatric hospital for headaches, but since moving to England hadn’t visited a doctor about the problem.

The trial continues.