Zahwa Mukhtar murder trail: witnesses give evidence

“I just wished I helped her or she listened to me to not get into the car,” one of the witnesses said tearfully in court as she relived the hours leading up to Zahwa Mukhtar’s death.

Zahwa Mukhtar murder trial continues

The 27-year-old financial assistant suffered fatal injuries after being pushed from a parked silver Mercedes and assaulted by Duane Owusu, 36, in the early hours of 16 August last year.

She died from a single punch to the neck. The backwards fall led to a fractured skull and brain injury. 

“He took it too far,” Paige Allen told the court on Thursday from behind a screen, adding that Zahwa “didn’t deserve to be thrown out the car”. 

Describing Owusu’s demeanour, she said: “He just seemed so angry. He looked like a monster.”

“I offered to help her and he screamed at me to get in the car.” 

On two occasions the panicked Mercedes driver turned back towards Zahwa, who lay motionless in Chadwell Heath Lane, Romford, while the group shouted at the defendant, known as “Nasty”, that she needed help. 

“No one wanted to leave her,” Paige said, but the emergency services weren’t called.

When quizzed on why by prosecutor Henrietta Paget KC, she replied: “We wanted to, but at the same time, we [Paige and another female] were both petrified…He was screaming at us. It was just chaos.”

She added: “I remember Nasty just shouting, ‘Fucking leave her. No one cares about her,’ and then the car drove back off and we were stopped up the road by the police.”

Another opportunity to help Zahwa was missed when police carried out a stop and search of the group nearby. Paige was “scared” of Owusu, so didn’t alert police, fearing she could also be harmed, she told jurors. 

“When I said, don’t get in the car, I just wished she listened”

Zahwa had travelled in the vehicle after encountering the group for the first time in Hackney.

It’s not known why Zahwa decided to get into the car, but it’s claimed her behaviour was “erratic” and she was “saying stuff that was out of the ordinary”. Paige said Zahwa had also been taking “laughing gas” that was being passed around.

Tearfully, she told jurors: “I think she was just there because the boys had laughing gas and she was chasing them for a high or something. I don’t think she knew what she was doing.”

However, it was a frustrating car journey. Paige said Zahwa had racially insulted her, repeatedly grabbed her hair and was poking her amongst other things.

“I was looking out the window just to avoid confrontation with her. I didn’t like the attitude from this girl. When I said, don’t get in the car, I just wished she listened.”

The tensions spilled outside of the car at least twice on route towards Dagenham, the court heard. The first time when Paige told the driver to pull into a petrol station and a second occasion in a residential street.

CCTV showed Zahwa shouting at Paige from the middle of the road with the defendant close by and Paige walking towards her before being led away by another male.

“We just wanted to go”

During cross examination, Paige denied being threatening towards Zahwa. “I wasn’t going towards her, I went to go towards her to tell her to stop, but she was shouting. She wouldn’t stop shouting. I had enough.”

She added: “We just wanted to go. We didn’t want to be with her. It was just one thing after another. I didn’t know where she thought she was going…There wasn’t one person in the car that wanted her in the car. Everyone at this point had had enough.”

However, the defendant and Zahwa went back into the Mercedes.

Events turned for the worse when Owusu saw Zahwa take out her phone to begin filming. A seconds-long clip recovered from her phone, in which nobody’s faces could be seen, was played in court. 

Owusu demanded the driver to “Stop the fucking car,” according to Paige.

She said: “He was just saying, ‘You dumb bitch’ and he threw her phone and it was like he ejected her from the car. I remember her holding on to him and pleading with him to stop. 

“She was on the floor on her bum. He just flung her out the car. 

“He aimed two kicks at her, and this is when she tried to get herself back up again, and this is when he swung his arm and hit her. Like a punching motion with his fist.

“I was still in the car, but I tried to get out.”

Owusu, of Althorne Way, Dagenham, denies murder and manslaughter.

“I just wanted to go home” said witness in Zahwa Mukhtar trial

Paige and her “best friend” were on a night out when they came across the defendant and his group at a house rave in Hackney. They knew the men from Dagenham and she had known the defendant for just a few months.

“Because we knew them, we did linger with them,” she said, as she continued to describe how everyone was “partying” and “consuming drugs and alcohol”. She told jurors she had cocaine and ecstasy pills that were being “handed out amongst the boys”. 

Paige left the venue feeling unwell from the drugs.  

“I just wanted to go home,” she began. “I remember everyone was just going back to Dagenham. My phone was on 1%. I had no data. [My friend’s] phone was dead, I believed, so we had no way to get home. They said they were going back, so we said alright, we’ll go back with them, it’s just easier.”

When the driver received a call about another party, the plans changed, which prompted the journey to where they’d later meet Zahwa. 

The Old Bailey trial continues.

Featured image via the Canary