Brutality on repeat: Man arrested for stabbing wife to death

Sajid suspected his wife was having an affair and regularly subjected her to domestic violence

MANSEHRA:

A man accused of murdering his wife and burying her outside their house was arrested on Saturday. According to Manshera police, Sajid killed his wife Shazia over suspicion that she was unfaithful.

Police quoted the deceased’s father Gulzar as saying that Shazia, 27, a resident of Balag village, got married to Sajid three and a half years ago, and the couple had three children, all minors. However, according to Gulzar, soon after marriage, Sajid began subjecting Shazia to domestic violence which forced her to return to her parents’ house on several occasions.

The bereaved father claimed Sajid with the help of a local jirga would then pressurise him to make Shazia go back to her abusive husband.

“When I visited my daughter 10 days ago she complained of Sajid’s aggressive behaviour once again, however, I pacified her and told her I will take the matter up with the jirga,” said Gulzar.

In the days that followed, Gulzar was unable to contact his daughter and began fearing for her life. He then went to her house, but Sajid told him she had been missing for the past few days. Shazia’s children also had no clue about her whereabouts, said Gulzar.

Following this, the father approached the police and accused Sajid of being involved in his daughter’s disappearance.

Police arrested Sajid on Saturday morning and during the interrogation he confessed he had stabbed her to death a week ago and buried her outside their house.

Sajid claimed he had found her red-handed with her alleged lover, Azizullah, a resident of the same village, and had killed her in a fit of rage. According to Sajid, Aziz managed to escape.

After obtaining Sajid’s confession, the police exhumed Shazia’s body and shifted it to King Abdullah Teaching Hospital for an autopsy. Further investigation is under way.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2014.