Kayum Mohammed-Abdul, left to right, Nadiya and Nazira bundled their sister into a car
A Muslim teenager was kidnapped, beaten and threatened with hammers and knives by her brother and sisters after kissing a white man, a court heard yesterday.
Shamima Akhtar, 18, was bundled into a car, called a whore and a prostitute and had her waist-length hair cut to her neck by her two older sisters, Nadiya, 25, and Nazira, 29, and brother Kayum Mohammed-Abdul, 24.
They had "screeched" in the car park of a restaurant in Basingstoke, Hampshire, when they saw her kissing Gary Pain on April 1 last year as she celebrated her 18th birthday, Winchester Crown Court was told.
An "extremely aggressive and threatening" Mohammed-Abdul grabbed Mr Pain by the throat as Miss Akhtar was "firmly escorted" to the car and thrown in, Peter Asteris, prosecuting, told the jury.
The case centred on "honour-based domestic violence", the court heard, in which Miss Akhtar was punished for breaking her family's rules.
Miss Akhtar came from a strict Islamic family and was controlled by her siblings, but she considered herself Westernised, the court heard. All three defendants deny kidnap, actual bodily harm and false imprisonment.
Mohammed-Abdul denies assaulting Mr Pain and the two sisters also deny assaulting Miss Akhtar.
"This case is to some extent unusual because it's about a family, the Crown say, who oppressed and chastised one of their members that was not complying with the rules of that family," Mr Asteris told the jury.
"This is about honour-based domestic violence. Shamima is the sister of the three defendants. Her family has very strong and traditional Islamic beliefs and they live their lives as a family in accordance with those beliefs.
"Shamima was not allowed to smoke or consume alcohol. Importantly, she must not have any contact with males of a different culture.
"Shamima considers herself western and she did not want to live her life that way."
The barrister explained that her three siblings in particular tried to control her but despite this she had got a job at Argos she enjoyed and on April 1 she had reluctantly got permission from her family to go out with work colleagues from Argos to celebrate her 18th birthday.
She had told them that the colleagues were all female and she was told she had to be home by 10.30pm.
During the meal she received many texts and phone calls and she made excuses not to answer and texted there was a bad signal, the court heard.
Eventually she said the food had been late arriving.
"Shamima did not want to return home at 10.30pm that night when she was celebrating her birthday," the barrister explained.
"When it was just about time for her to leave she went outside with Gary Pain, a colleague she had become close to and it appears that when she was outside she kissed Gary Pain.
"It seems that at that point her two sisters and her brother drove into the location at speed. They screeched into the car park, her brother was driving and they got out."
One of the sisters then escorted Shamima into the car while Mohammed-Abdul grabbed Mr Pain "around the neck and became extremely aggressive and threatening", the jury heard.
"Shamima said she was thrown into the back seat of the car and she was punched by her sister Nazira.
"She did not want to go with her family and she was fearful of what they were going to do with her," Mr Asteris said.
The alleged victim told police she overheard her brother on the telephone saying, 'Get the gun, I need the boys tonight'.
The car was driven back to the family home in Basingstoke and she was dragged in to the house and put on a sofa where she was subjected to a "barrage of insults" like "whore and prostitute", the jury heard.
Nadiya is then alleged to have punched her sister in the back of the head and Mohammed-Abdul is alleged to have kicked her.
Mohammed-Abdul then came into the room with two knives and a hammer, Mr Asteris said.
"(He) told his sister to pick one to be used on her and one to be used on her loverboy," The barrister said.
The abuse continued and then the two sisters said Miss Akhtar had to be punished for her behaviour and they decided to cut her hair.
"She was begging and crying for them not to," Mr Asteris told the jury.
"Her brother was there shouting encouragement, saying 'shave it"'
The jury was shown pictures of Miss Akhtar with long hair, that Mr Asteris explained was part of her faith. It was then shown her hair "hacked to neck level".
The court heard that Miss Akhtar had her mobile phone taken from her but she had another one and later that evening she managed to text Mr Pain to say what happened and she told him to call the police.
Mr Pain was unsure what to do and did not, but the next morning Miss Akhtar managed to run upstairs and call the police when her sister Nazira and her brother went out and only Nadiya was home. She had been allegedly imprisoned for around 12 hours.
When arrested Nazira Akhtar told officers her parents where away and she was responsible for the family.
She admitted she had repeatedly called her sister to check on her welfare and she told officers "she was upset when she turned up and she saw Shamima kissing a white man", Mr Asteris said.
Nadiya replied no comment to her interviews and all three would not explain why Miss Akhtar's hair was cut, the jury was told.
Mohammed-Abdul told officers it was fine for Miss Akhtar to come and go as she pleased and he did not mind her kissing a white boy.
He denied kicking her.
The trial is expected to last six days.
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