A man accused of pushing his pregnant wife off Arthur’s Seat told a 999 operator how he tried to grab her arm after she slipped and fell, a trial heard.
Kashif Anwar, 29, is accused of murdering Fawziyah Javed and causing the death of her unborn child at the Edinburgh landmark.
The jury was played mobile phone calls with emergency services in the minutes after the incident on September 2 2021.
Witness James Duncan told the High Court in Edinburgh on Thursday how he heard a woman scream while walking on the beauty spot with his girlfriend.
James, 25, said he was approached by a “very panicked” Anwar who said his wife had fallen and asked him to phone for help.
Anwar was heard on a call with an ambulance operator stating: “Fawziyah just fell off the edge of the cliff, man.”
Anwar was then put on the call and told the operator: “We came up here for sunset. It was a bit dark.
“We both technically slipped and then I tried to grab her arm and she went sideways. The slates are a bit slippy.”
He added: “She’s not far from the top. She didn’t fall far.”
Anwar told the operator a woman at the scene had reached Fawziyah and told him she was still breathing.
He recounted how they went “towards the edge” and there was a “bit of a gap” and “slatey rock” and “she fell”.
James told the trial he went to Arthur’s Seat on a walk with his girlfriend and they were near the summit of the extinct volcano at around 9pm.
James, who said he’d made the climb more than 100 times in his life, said around five people were in the area at the time.
He said it had gotten “very dark” when he “heard a scream” just below the summit.
He said: “It was a female scream. Then, a few seconds after, I heard a male scream.
“I went to investigate. I assumed it was someone who had been scared by a fox.
“The male was screaming in shock, but I wasn’t able to catch words.
“Then I saw a gentleman and a woman coming down. He was very panicked and asking for help. He asked if I had a charged phone.”
James identified Anwar in the dock as the man who had approached him.
He added: “The gentleman said that his wife had fallen off Arthur’s Seat, off of the summit.
“Obviously I knew that was fatal, or could be fatal. The gentleman said he wanted me to dial 999 to get in contact with the ambulance, police or emergency services to get them to help with the situation.”
The call made by James was played to the courtroom. At one point, he told the operator: “Oh, they can hear her.”
James said he kept his torch on to assist police in finding their location.
He told the jury Anwar and the woman tried to get to Fawziyah. He said: “The gentleman was struggling to get up there. It was his shoes, or it was slippy, I don’t know.
“I told him he was going to fall.
“The woman did find (Fawziyah) and said she was still breathing.”
A call between James and the ambulance service was played next. Anwar was heard saying, “Fawziyah just fell off the edge of the cliff, man.”
Anwar was later put on the call and told how they both slipped and she fell.
Police were arriving at the scene during the call.
Asked by prosecutor Alex Prentice KC, James said he never saw Anwar with his own phone.
Under cross examination by Ian Duguid KC, representing Anwar, James said he was always careful where he went on Arthur’s Seat because of the dangers.
He said he stuck to rocky paths as the dirt paths could be slippy.
Anwar, who denies the charges against him, is accused of murdering Fawziyah by pushing her off Arthur’s Seat where she suffered multiple blunt force trauma in a fall “from height” and died at the scene in Holyrood Park.
He is also accused of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner the previous day. He allegedly repeatedly shouted at his wife in the Residence Inn by Marriott hotel in the capital’s Quartermile.
The trial continues.
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