The family who left an arranged marriage bride in a vegetative state by ‘dousing her with chemicals’ and ‘force-feeding her pills’ will be sentenced today.
Parents Khalid Sheikh, 55, and Shabnam, 53, and their son Asgar will be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court for the abuse of Ambreen Fatima Sheikh.
Ambreen, now 38, was flown to Britain from Pakistan in 2014, after an arrange marriage to Asgar, now 31, in Pakistan in 2013.
However she experienced persistent physical abuse throughout this time, which left her with ‘irretrievable’ brain damage, so she no longer has consciousness of the world around her.
Shagufa, Shabnam and Asgar were also found guilty of doing an act intending to pervert the course of justice. Only Sakalyne Sheikh (pictured second from right) was found not guilty of this offence
A jury heard that Ambreen was left lying unconscious for up to three days before her new family called for an ambulance in July, 2015 – and she has never regained consciousness
The Sheikh family had lived in the four-bedroom house in Huddersfield for decades, although neighbours describe how they rarely spoke to others.
Shagufa, 29, and her brother Sakalayne, 24, are still living in the property on strict bail conditions. But their brother Asgar and parents have been remanded in custody after being declared a ‘flight risk’ by the judge.
The details of the abuse she suffered remain uncertain, however a court previously heard that Ambreen may have been the victim of a possible ‘torture’ with a chemical substance, and there may have also been an attempt to kill her with a dangerous drug.
The court heard the probable explanation for the 38-year-old’s condition was that she had unwillingly swallowed tablets prescribed to her diabetic mother-in-law that resulted in a hypoglycaemic attack.
Such tablets are extremely dangerous if taken by non-diabetics and have been dubbed ‘one pill killers’ to small children. The prosecution said that the tablets were not taken voluntarily and by then the socially isolated and vulnerable Ambreen had suffered a ‘pattern of violence’ behind the closed doors of the terraced house in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire that she shared with her husband, parents-in-law and brother and sister-in-law.
Police raided the family home in July 2015