I remember
the murder of this girl being on the tea-time news. Shafilea
was a British-Pakistani girl who refused an arranged marriage so her dad forced
a plastic bag into her mouth and held her down until she was no longer
breathing. Here I am at her grave.
Shafilea’s parents
were immigrant parents and settled near Warrington in Cheshire. Their spirited
daughter did well at school and wanted to become a solicitor. Her parents
planned a different life though and they arranged a marriage for the
sixteen-year-old. On a trip to Pakistan to see her suitor Shafilea
attempted suicide by swallowing bleach (her parents later claimed she drank
mouth wash during a power cut.)
Back in England she spent two months in hospital
and shrunk to five stones of skin and bones. The police thought something was
wrong as she'd not sought treatment for her damaged throat. After years of
beatings she asked Social Services to find her a place to live. After disappearing
detectives concluded she'd been murdered in an "honour killing". They
were right. In front of her siblings Shafilea was pushed
onto a settee in the lounge and her mum said, "Just finish it here."
She was held down for her sluttish and Westernised way and choked to death. Her
siblings were sworn to secrecy and told they'd share the same fate if they
spoke out. In February 2004 the River Kent near Sedgwick in Cumbria flooded and
some dismembered remains were found. Among the decomposed remains was Shafilea's gold bracelet and blue topaz ring. A DNA test
and dental records proved this was the missing girl.
Nearly a decade passed before more details
emerged. Shafilea’s sister could not take the
pressure any more. She confessed to police that Shafilea's
refusal to accept an arranged marriage would bring shame on the family and she
had been choked to death at home and then carried to the boot of the car to be
disposed of. In court in 2012 her parents were sentenced to serve a minimum
term of 25 years. Police concluded others probably helped dispose of the body
but there was in sufficient evidence.
The grave sits in the Muslim section of the
cemetery though I doubt there’s much under this grass. Shafilea’s
body was so decomposed only a part of her bottom jaw remained (dental records
proved it was Shafilea.) On the day she was murdered
she was wearing a tee-shirt which revealed too much skin. Perhaps this is what
triggered the sudden murder.
Poor kid. I did a salute an left.
The view from the headstone...
The murderers...