Pregnant woman 'took selfies with accused husband before falling 50ft to death'

04 April 2023 , 15:56

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Fawziyah Javed, 31, was in the early stages of pregnancy before her tragic death (Image: Daily Record)

A pregnant woman prosecutors say was murdered by her husband took selfies with him at a popular Edinburgh landmark moments before she fell 50ft to her death, a court has heard.

Kashif Anwar, 29, is accused of murdering Fawziyah Javed, 31, in September 2021 by pushing her from Arthur's Seat, Holyrood Park in Scotland causing her multiple blunt force injuries.

The fall ultimately led to her death, and that of her unborn child.

Anwar, from Leeds, denies all the charges against him, including one of acting in a threatening and abusive way towards his wife at a hotel in the city the day before the alleged murder.

A firefighter sent to help rescue Ms Javed claims Anwar told him his wife slipped as he bumped into her trying to get a selfie.

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Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland (PA)

Firefighter Sean Stratford, who gave evidence to the High Court in Edinburgh, told jurors: "He said that he stood up to take a selfie, he slipped and bumped her and she had fallen."

He said Mr Anwar seemed to be “calm” as he spoke with him at the scene.

Police Sergeant Alastair Paisley, 41, was a crime scene manager at the site of the incident and told the fifth day of the trial at the High Court at Edinburgh he estimated Ms Javed had fallen "between 40 and 50ft".

Jurors were shown drone footage and images of the site, which is visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year, from where the woman fell.

Fawziyah died in September 2021 (Yasmin Javed / SWNS)

The 40-50ft fall ultimately led to her death, and that of her unborn child (Fawziyah Javed)

The footage showed a cone on the side of the hill, indicating where Ms Javed first landed, and images of a tent which had been placed over her body on the hillside after she died.

Detective Sergeant Christopher Edmund told the jury that mountain rescue had been called in to help recover the body as it was in an "extremely difficult location to get to".

Ian Duguid KC, Anwar's defence, told the court that during his client's police interview shortly after the incident, Anwar said he and Ms Javed had left the summit of the landmark because it was busy and Mr Anwar thought they should go home.

Sabeen Rashid, 43, a major crime analyst, also gave evidence, going through a 97-page telecoms report with advocate depute Alex Prentice KC.

Her uncle Adnan Hanif places flowers on her grave (Daily Record)

Pictures from Arthur's Seat were shown, timed between about 8.06pm and 8.30pm taken on the phone attributed to Ms Javed, which included selfies of herself and her husband.

As part of the report, Ms Rashid told the court that a six-second call was made from the phone attributed to Ms Javed at 9.19pm to the device attributed to her father, and at 9.20pm there was a call to the number associated with Anwar's father's phone, which lasted one minute.

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Yesterday, Police Constable Sean Henderson told the High Court in Edinburgh that the accused was taken to Gayfield Square police station after his wife's fall and, at about 12.45am the next day, was told of her death.

Referring to Anwar's response to the news, the officer said: "There wasn't much of a reaction, in my opinion, he didn't say much to it and didn't have any obvious physical reaction."

The trial continues.

Laura Paterson