London: An Indian Muslim teenager was kidnapped, raped and murdered here for having a relationship with an Arab man, a UK court was told.
According to the Evening Standard daily, Celine Dookhran, 19-year-old aspiring make-up artist was kidnapped with another woman last week. They were said to have been bound, gagged and kidnapped by masked men. Both women were taken to a house in Kingston-upon-Thames, southwest London, where they were both raped and Dookhran was killed, the court heard.
The body of Dookhran was found stuffed in a fridge with her throat slit inside a £1.5million home in south west London last Wednesday.
A post-mortem examination gave the teenager’s cause of death as an incised wound to the neck.
Mujahid Arshid, 33, appeared before Wimbledon Magistrate’s Court on Monday charged with the murder, attempted murder, and two counts of rape and kidnap, the daily reported on Tuesday.
He appeared alongside his co-defendant, Vincent Tappu, 28, who was charged with the kidnap of both women.
Prosecutor Binita Roscoe told the court the teenager was of Indian Muslim heritage and had started a relationship with an Arab Muslim man, The Times reported.
“The family members didn’t approve of the relationship because they are Indian Muslims,” said the prosecutor. Two men in balaclavas entered the property on July 19, the prosecutor said.
“Her face and mouth were covered in duct tape. Her hands were tied with cable tie,” the prosecutor told the court.
“The deceased was brought down tied up. They were bound in dust sheets and placed in a vehicle,” she said.
Dookhran’s final post on Twitter, on July 11, read: “Alhamdulilah [praise God] for everything that’s all I can say.”
Both defendants were remanded in custody and will appear at the Old Bailey on August 21.
IANS inputs