The mother of a TikTok influencer took the stand today (May 17) as she and her daughter face charges of murdering a man in a car crash.
Ansreen Bukhari, 47, and her daughter Mahek, 23, allegedly murdered her mother's lover, Saqib Hussain, by ramming him off the road when he threatened to expose their affair. Saqib and his friend Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin, both 21, were said by prosecutors to have been forced off the road in their Skoda Fabia.
The mother and daughter stand accused of murder alongside Raees Jamal, 22, of Lingdale Close, Loughborough, who was previously claimed to have 'recruited' others, including Natasha Akhtar, 22, of Alum Rock Road, Birmingham. The other defendants charged with muder include Sanaf Gulammustafa, 22, of Littlemore Close, Crown Hills, Leicester, Ameer Jama, 28, of Catherine Street, Belgrave, Leicester, Mohammed Patel, 20, of Braybrooke Road, and Rekan Karwan, 28 of Tomlin Road.
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Ansreen, of George Eardley Close, Stoke, said Saqib first contacted her on Instagram which led to them 'chatting everyday'. She told Leicester Crown Court that Saqib, who was a teenager at the time of the first message, told her he was 27.
The 47-year-old told the jury that Mahek, also of George Eardley Close, was 20 and studying when she began getting involved in social media. She said: "It was TikTok and Instagram and there was some clothing - she had to wear the clothes and tag in where they were from."
When asked by her barrister, Patrick Upward KC, about "pornographic" videos Saqib had made of her, she said they were from online video chats and she was unaware he was recording her.
She added that Saqib would ask her to do things during the chats, and she would remove her clothes for him. She told the court: "He was telling me to do things that I didn't know he was recording."
She said that it was "getting worse and worse", adding: "If I didn't take his video calls he would get angry."
The pair met for a second time and had sex in early 2021 at a Premier Inn in London which was booked by Mahek Bukhari. Saqib went to see her, and she wanted to end things with him, the court was told.
She added: "I wanted to finish it off quite a few times, but it didn't work that way." She was asked if she wanted to have sex with Saqib the second time. She said: "Not really."
Mr Upward asked: "Were you happy to have sex with him on this occasion?" She said no, but that she was not forced to have sex.
She also described Saqib showering her with gifts, some of which were sent to her home in Stoke where she lived with her husband, son and Mahek.
Whenever she tried to end the relationship, she said, Saqib would ignore her and often got angry. Describing what happened when Saqib allegedly got angry, she said: "He used to swear at me and it was just not nice - the wording that he used to say."
The mother was asked why she did not report Saqib's behaviour to the police. She said: "I was just too scared the police was going to come to my house and my husband and my family was going to find out."
She claimed Mahek only found out about the affair in December 2021. She said: "I told her at the end of the year that we had a sexual relationship. She was angry. She said, 'I can't believe what you've just told me'. She was very angry."
The prosecution alleges that the eight defendants went to "ambush" Saqib at Tesco in Hamilton, Leicester, pretending they were going to pay him £3,000 for all the things he had bought for Ansreen Bukhari. When he arrived at Tesco, with his friend Hashim Ijazuddin driving, he only paused for a few seconds in the car park before fleeing.
The court has been told that the defendants, in two cars, followed him up the A46, and as the three vehicles were travelling at about 100mph, the Skoda the two men were in came off the dual carriageway and hit a tree at about 1.30am on Friday, February 11, last year, killing them both.
Ansreen was later asked via a Snapchat from Raees Jamaal, also known as 'Risky' after police arrived at her house to tell them that no one else was in the car. Ansreen agreed.
She was asked why she agreed to say it was just her and Mahek in the car: "I just had in my mind that was true, it was just me and Mahek - that was the only.... in my mind."
The trial continues.
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