Man screamed for help, witness tells murder trial
A woman has told a murder trial that she saw a man being dragged from a window in Drogheda after he screamed out for help.
Catherine McEnroe was giving evidence to Central Criminal Court in the trial of a 31-year-old man charged with murdering his wife’s cousin.
Shahzad Hussain of Woodland Avenue, Mosney, Co Meath, has pleaded not guilty to murdering 32-year-old Muhammad Arif on January 7, 2011.
He has also pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm to his (Mr Hussain’s) wife, Rashida Bibi Haider (aged 41), and to intentionally or recklessly causing her serious harm. He’s alleged to have carried out those offences on January 6, 2011 at Mr Arif’s apartment in Fitzwilliam Court, Dyer Street, Drogheda, Co Louth.
Ms McEnroe testified that she was on Dyer Street that afternoon, when she heard a bang.
“I looked around. The guy was standing at the window and he shouted for help,” she said, explaining that the man was a foreign national. “He screamed in a really high pitch, like he was really in trouble.”
She said that the man shouted either: ‘Help, he’s killing her’, or “Help, he’s hurting her’.
“Then he was dragged back in. I saw a hand and him going backwards,” she testified.
She immediately called the police, she added.
“I saw an arm and him getting pulled back in,” she explained when cross examined by Keith Spencer BL, defending.
“He was still facing out and he was just dragged in and back by an arm,” she added.
Mr Spencer asked if she might be mistaken about seeing an arm.
“No, no, no,” she said. “That’s one thing I’m actually sure of.”
The trial has already heard that the accused, deceased and his cousin, Ms Haider, were from Pakistan and had been living together in an apartment in Fitzwilliam Court.
However the arranged marriage between Ms Haider and Mr Hussain encountered problems, with the accused suspecting that his wife and Mr Arif were having an affair. Both husband and wife moved out separately in December 2010.
Ms Haider testified that she returned to her cousin’s apartment on January 5, 2011 to collect some things and stayed the night.
She said her husband arrived the following afternoon, became angry and stabbed her and her cousin. She said that her cousin had shouted for help out the window and had rung an ambulance.
Mr Arif died in hospital a day later while Ms Haider underwent life-saving surgery.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of nine men and three women.
