Bride Killed On Wedding Day for Choosing First Love'
BRIDE KILLED ON WEDDING DAYFOR CHOOSING FIRST LOVE'.
By Cahal Milmo.
AN ASIAN bride murdered on her wedding day was killed in a family feud after she rejected an arranged marriage to marry her "first real love", police said yesterday.
Sahda Bibi, 21, dressed in a gold wedding gown and adorned with jewellery, was found dead moments after she had suffered 14 stab wounds to her neck and body at her family home in Birmingham.
Relatives were making final preparations for the traditional Pakistani wedding as the bride waited in her bedroom for the ceremony.
Her husband-to-be, whom she had started seeing secretly five months earlier before making the romance public, suffered slash wounds to his legs as he confronted the killer.
Detectives yesterday named one of Ms Bibi's cousins, Rafaquat Hussain, 37, as the prime suspect for the murder, which took place at about 2.30pm on Saturday.
Officers searched Mr Hussain's home in Camberley, Surrey, as concern grew yesterday that he might have fled the country hours after the killing.
The businessman, who has three children, is believed to have driven on Saturday morning to the family home in Alum Rock to remonstrate with Ms Bibi over her choice of bridegroom. Friends of Ms Bibi's father, Sadkar Khan, said Mr Hussain had been furious at the family's decision late last year to reject a proposed union with a member of his own immediate family. Instead, Ms Bibi persuaded her father to allow her to marry Zafar Hussein, 26, a distant relative from Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
Ms Bibi, a dressmaker, told her parents of the relationship in November.
Acting Detective Superintendent Laurie Dyer, who is leading the investigation, said: "Some members of the extended family were not happy that the marriage was a love match rather than arranged.
"We believe [Rafaquat] Hussain was unhappy with the proposed marriage and came to Birmingham. There was an argument between him and the bride, which resulted in her being stabbed a number of times."
Witnesses claimed that Mr Hussain had lured Ms Bibi to her death by pretending to want to take a picture of her before stabbing her with a kitchen knife as guests arrived.
Mohammed Wazir, 27, a family friend who was in the house, said: "We were all looking forward to a day which should have been full of happiness. Shortly after the groom had arrived, I heard some banging and screaming coming from the bedroom. We raced upstairs and Sahda was lying on the floor covered in blood.
"Rafaquat had come into her room and asked if he could take a picture of her because she looked so wonderful. As soon as they were alone, that is when the screaming started."
Ms Bibi died at the scene. A post-mortem examination found injuries to her head, neck and shoulders.
Detectives believe the killing had been carefully planned. Mr Hussain allegedly made his escape by jumping into a waiting BMW driven by another man. West Midlands Police said officers were not seeking anyone else in connection with the assault.
Police across the country were searching for Mr Hussain last night although they suspect he might now be in Pakistan. Interpol is understood to have been alerted.
Ms Bibi, who was due to leave the home she shared with her brother and parents for the first time on her wedding night, had met her bridegroom through a female cousin who lives in Alum Rock.
Zafar Hussein, whose injuries are not life-threatening, is the brother-in-law of that cousin. The woman's husband is the younger brother of Rafaquat Hussain.
Neighbours of Ms Bibi's family said Mr Khan, 65, had initially disapproved of the match when his daughter said she had been meeting Zafar Hussein during his visits from Yorkshire but had been convinced of the couple's love.
One family friend said: "She was very excited about the wedding. She said she was in love and this was her first real love. She told me, I'm not going to marry anybody else'."
It is understood the agreement of Ms Bibi's parents to the marriage was not shared by other relatives, including Mr Hussain, who put forward one of his own cousins as a suitor.
Mr Khan, whose wife has been unable to return to the family home since the killing, said last night: "Sahda was born here. I told herYou're a Brummie. As my daughter, who you want to marry, you marry'."
Describing how he found the bride after the stabbing, he said: "I saw her blood, I held her hand and said `Sahda'. But she didn't speak."
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