A pregnant woman allegedly pushed to her death off Arthur’s Seat by her husband had set up a code word to text her mother if she felt in danger, a court has heard.
Kashif Anwar, 29, is accused of murdering his wife Fawziyah Javed, 31, in September 2021 by pushing her from the Edinburgh landmark.
Mrs Javed’s mother, Nighat Yasmin Javed, told Edinburgh‘s High Court on Thursday that she had been “very worried” about her daughter because of alleged “violence” from Anwar.
“I said if you feel that you are in danger, just text me ‘I like cream cakes’, and I will contact the police,” she told advocate depute Alex Prentice KC.
She said she did this because of the “abuse, the violence, the aggression, and coercive control” in the relationship, which included, she said, Anwar taking £12,000 from her daughter’s bank account while she was sleeping.
Mrs Javed said her daughter’s calls and texts were monitored by the accused, and between three or four months after the wedding her daughter wanted out of the marriage.
Anwar denies all the charges against him, including one of acting in a threatening and abusive manner towards her at a hotel the day before the alleged murder.
Mrs Javed told the court she and her daughter first met Anwar together at an opticians in Leeds city centre, near their home in Pudsey, where he worked as an optical assistant.
The couple had an Islamic wedding on 25 December 2020, but the court heard that concerns were raised within months.
Jurors were played a recording of Anwar’s wife, who worked as an employment lawyer, phoning a legal firm for advice on getting a divorce.
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‘I heard screams’
The trial, in its second day, also heard from James Duncan, 25, who was walking up Arthur’s Seat with his girlfriend on the evening of 2 September when Mrs Javed was found.
“There were a couple of screams to my recollection. One was from a female screaming, then I heard a male screaming after I heard the female scream,” he said.
He said that soon afterwards, he saw Anwar with another woman who were looking for a charged mobile phone to call emergency services.
“The gentleman said his wife had fallen off the summit and wanted me to call 999 to get in touch with ambulance or police or emergency services to get them to help with the situation,” Mr Duncan said.
The fall caused Mrs Javed multiple blunt force injuries, killing her and her unborn child.
In the first 999 call, operators were told she could be heard screaming after the fall.
The court heard that in a second call, Anwar told the ambulance service they both slipped.
In cross-examination, Mr Duncan, who told the court he had scaled the hill more than 100 times, said the accused was wearing ordinary shoes and not hiking boots.
The trial, before Lord Beckett, continues.
