Man dies in suspected ‘honour killing’

A MAN stabbed so violently — he was clinically dead before being resuscitated by paramedics — has died in hospital in what may be a so-called ‘honour killing’.

The victim, 32-year-old Muhammad Aris who was originally from Pakistan, lost his fight for life at St Vincent’s Hospital where he had been treated following the stabbing at an apartment in Drogheda on Thursday.

Mr Aris, understood to have worked in a branch of Tesco in Drogheda, and a 39-year-old woman, also from Pakistan, were stabbed in the attack at the fifth floor apartment in the Fitzwilliam Court complex in the Co Louth town.

It is understood the woman’s husband moved out of the apartment about six weeks ago.

It is thought that on returning to the property on Thursday, around 2pm, he found the woman in the company of Mr Aris.

Both Mr Aris and the woman sustained knife injuries.

So bad were Mr Aris’s injuries that technically he ‘died’ at the scene, and was clinically dead for up to five minutes before he was resuscitated by paramedics.

He and the woman were rushed to Our Lady Of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and later transferred to St Vincent’s Hospital in south Dublin. He died there early yesterday.

The woman’s injuries are not believed to be life threatening and she is still receiving treatment in Our Ladies of Lourdes Hospital.

Gardaí arrested a 30-year-old man in Drogheda late on Thursday night in relation to the investigation. He was being detained in Drogheda Garda Station under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act yesterday and can be held for up to 24 hours.

One line of inquiry being pursued by gardaí is that this may have been a so-called ‘honour killing’, in which someone — usually a woman — is killed by a member of a family or social group due to the belief that the person has brought dishonour on her family or community.

If this was found to be an ‘honour killing’ it would be the first such case in Ireland.

Similar cases have been recorded in Britain where there is a sizeable Asian population.

However, gardaí stressed that this was just one line of inquiry being pursued and that there may be a more prosaic explanation for the horrific knife attack.

A spokesperson for Tesco Ireland said it did not wish to comment as it was a garda matter but expressed sympathy to Mr Aris’s family.

British police set up special units to tackle crime

By Jennifer Hough

HONOUR killings have been taking place in Britain for many years now, resulting in the establishment of special units — involving police and prosecution services — to help crack down on them.

The changes come after a 20-year-old Kurdish woman was murdered by her father and uncle because they disapproved of her boyfriend who was not a strict Muslim and was not of their tribe. Banaz Mahmod was found dumped in a suitcase with the shoelace used to kill her around her neck.

She had repeatedly told police her family were trying to kill her. In one instance where she had escaped from her father, she was not taken seriously, and had been described as melodramatic and manipulative by an officer who interviewed her.

There are four “hotspot” areas in Britain where special investigators are based — London, the West Midlands, West Yorkshire and Lancashire.

Other honour killings include:

- A Muslim man murdered his 16-year-old daughter because he disapproved of her Christian boyfriend.

- The Old Bailey heard Kurdish Abdalla Yones, 48, murdered Heshu on October 12, 2002, at their home in Acton, west London, because he feared she was becoming westernised.

- A 30-year-old businessman stabbed his sister to death in front of his two young daughters.

Azhar Nazir, 30, and his cousin, 17, used four knives to cut Samaira Nazir’s throat and repeatedly stab her after she fell in love with an asylum seeker from what they saw as an unsuitable caste.

Ms Nazir, 25, had rejected suitors lined up to meet her in Pakistan.

- A 70-year-old British grandmother murdered her son’s wife after luring her to India.

One of the oldest women ever to be convicted of murder in England Bachan Athwal, 70, and her son killed Sikh Heathrow Airport worker Surjit Kaur Athwal, who disappeared in December 1998 after she decided to walk out of her arranged marriage.

The pensioner was said to have told one family member that any divorce proceedings “would happen over my dead body”.