A husband and his family have been found guilty of murdering a pregnant young wife at her Birmingham home, in the belief that she had been possessed by ‘Jinn spirits’. Naila Mumtaz died in hospital on 8 July 2009, after being found collapsed at her home in Craythorne Avenue. Paramedics were called to the address by family members, however the 21-year-old could not be saved and she was pronounced dead a short time later. Naila, who was six-months pregnant at the time of her death, died as a result of smothering, according to a post mortem examination, and the trial heard that members of her husband’s family had deliberately caused her death. The court heard how Naila’s husband, father-in-law, mother-in-law, and her sister-in-law’s husband believed that the young woman, who had arrived in Birmingham some two years earlier from Pakistan, had been possessed by Jinn spirits. Following a lengthy investigation by the Force Criminal Investigation Department the four defendants were charged with Naila’s murder and, after a 12-week trial a jury of four men and eight women found them guilty. Detective Inspector Simon Astle said: “This was a tragic and deeply upsetting case, where a young woman had her life so horrifically ended by those she loved and trusted.”Naila was a pretty, outgoing young woman who was soon to become a mother for the first time.
“It is unthinkable that those who she was closest to would take her life in the belief that she had been possessed by evil spirits. “Naila should now be enjoying the joys of motherhood and family life but instead her family back in Pakistan continue to mourn her death, still shocked and unbelieving that the family she entered into caused her death. “We hope that the verdict and resulting sentences will offer some comfort to Naila’s grieving family and friends both here and in Pakistan.
