Tragic Seema Banu suffered physical and mental torture from her evil husband who tried to strangle her before he finally killed her and their children.
Brutal Sameer Syed had carried out a campaign of terror against his wife as she planned to flee to India to get away from the monster, her family said last night.
Her elderly mother, four brothers and three sisters have been left devastated since Syed took his own life in the Midlands Prison in Co Laois.
Read more: Pain is 'constant' for family of woman and her two kids who died tragically
The coward strangled Seema, 37, her daughter Asfira Riza, 11, and six-year-old son Faizan Syed at her home in Llewellyn Court, Rathfarnham, Dublin, in October 2020.
Syed, 38, was due to stand trial at the Central Criminal Court on the three murder charges next week – and gardai were confident he would have been found guilty.
Speaking from India Seema’s nephew Kashief Ahmed, 25, revealed the family’s pain and anger declaring: “We deserved justice. He’s taken his own life, why did he kill them if he was killing himself?
“Our family are shocked and grieving. There are no answers for us.
“Seema’s brothers and sisters are very upset and very angry.
“Seema’s mother is too weak. She is crying as we are unable to get justice.”
The day after he murdered Seema and her two children, Syed was to appear in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court charged with launching a “serious assault” on her on May 16, 2020.
As a result of that, he had been ordered to stay away from the family and was living in a different home in Rathmines.
But Kashief told how crazed Syed had attacked her in India and again in Ireland as she tried to escape.
As her family could not afford to help her, determined Seema saved money herself but it was during the pandemic and movement was severely limited.
He told us: “He tried to strangle her with a veil in India. Sameer also tried to strangle [her] in Ireland.
“She had tried to get away. She had called us from Ireland.
“She said, ‘I want to come back’ and she had arranged money to come back but it was during lockdown. She was planning to come home.
“She was very upset and crying badly.
“As Seema was very kind and used to love the family and wanted to be here in India.
“In Ireland she didn’t know anyone and wanted to come back. She used to tell her husband that, ‘Let’s go back, I am not feeling OK over here.’ And this happened. We were helpless when she died.”
Kashief also explained how the physical torture she endured became mental abuse too. He said as
Seema planned to travel home, Syed threatened that if she did, her doting children would be put into state care here.
Kashief told how the family’s grief was compounded by Syed after the murders.
In the days after the killings, wicked Syed had not been arrested and although he remained as the chief suspect he remained at liberty.
The bodies of Seema and little Asfira Riza and Faizan Syed were released back to him.
He refused to let their remains be repatriated back to India despite a huge fundraising campaign from the Irish public at the time. It meant that those who most loved the mum and her kids never got to see them again.
Kashief said: “We tried a lot to get the bodies home. It’s very hurtful.
“We were helpless with the bodies too because we could not get them home.” Instead, the family had to watch their funerals – which took place at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland in Clonskeagh, Dublin, – on a projector in Mysore district, in
Karnataka, India.
Vile Syed even sobbed over the three coffins at the burial despite being responsible for their deaths.
On top of that, Seema’s elderly father Abdul Ghaffar – who described his daughter and two children as “the three precious gems of our family” – passed away just 40 days on from their deaths.
Kashief explained: “Everytime I passed him, he’d asked us what’s the update. At that time Syed was not in custody. Seema’s father was trying to ask me. He was heartbroken before he died.”
Seema’s mum Qurishid-un-nisa and her brothers and sisters remain devastated by the loss.
The tragic mum’s relatives had applied for visas and planned to come over for the end of Syed’s trial with assistance from the gardai.
But now they are left with no answers.
Kashief said: “We wanted justice and we can’t get it. I don’t have any answers.”
Remembering Seema, he added: “With her kids, she used to be like a kid. And she used to play with the kids and go on walks with them. With the family, the whole family used to listen to her over any
decision. She was wise.”
Seema’s cousin Sufi Masood Hussain last night said he did not want to comment on the specifics of the case, but added: “May God give strength to his family and friends to recover from this loss.”
Seema had been living in Ireland for a number of months and her kids were in the local Ballinteer Educate Together National School who at the time paid tribute to them.
Syed was arrested at the end of November 2020 and was then charged with the three killings.
He never left custody. Final preparations were being made by
prosecutors for his triple murder trial with the weight of evidence against him likely to lead to a
conviction.
But this week he ended his own life in his prison cell in the Midlands where his body was found at 3.30pm on Thursday.
An Irish Prison Service spokesman said: “We can confirm the death of a prisoner in the Midlands Prison.
“All deaths in custody are investigated by the IPS, the Inspector of Prisons and gardai, where circumstances warrant.
“The cause of death is determined by the coroner’s office.”
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