Chilling drone footage released by police shows the horrific 50ft drop on Arthur’s Seat where pregnant Fawziyah Javed, 31, was pushed to her death by her husband Kashif Anwar in September 2021.
Anwar, 29, was jailed for 20 years for the murder of his wife at Edinburgh High Court on Thursday. Police footage from the investigation was released by the Crown Office following his conviction.
In the video, officers are seen standing at the spot Ms Javed was pushed from. The drone camera slowly pans down to the spot where she landed, marked by an orange cone.
The video also shows how steep a drop the section of Arthur’s Seat is, with sharp rocks piercing out from the near vertical hillside.
Ms Javed, who was around 17 weeks pregnant when she was pushed, used her dying words to reveal it was her abusive husband who caused her to fall around 50ft down the hillside.
Daniyah Rafique, 24, managed to reach the dying employment lawyer on the side of the landmark in the Scottish capital, where she was told: “Don’t let my husband near me, he pushed me.”
The couple had only been married for nine months, but Ms Javed had faced a barrage of domestic abuse during that time. During the High Court trial, prosecutors showed that Anwar had been abusing Ms Javed for months with controlling, threatening and violent actions.
Prior to her murder, Ms Javed had reported the abuse to West Yorkshire Police in interviews which were captured by officers’ body-worn cameras – and played to the jury by the Crown.
The 31-year-old woman recounted how Anwar held a pillow over her face and punched it repeatedly. In another incident, she was left bleeding and unconscious after struggling with him.
The couple had travelled to the capital for what Anwar described as a ‘mini-moon’. He claimed 17-week pregnant Fawziyah slipped and fell in an accident on the hillside, but prosecutors and the jury were able to expose her husband's lies at a trial heard before the High Court in Edinburgh.
Scotland’s Procurator Fiscal for Homicide and Major Crime, David Green, said Fawziyah’s bravery in reporting the abuse helped convict her husband of her murder.
He said: “This young woman was being degraded and controlled by her husband, but she found the strength to place on record what was going on. Her own words – which were recorded by West Yorkshire Police – helped us prosecutors show that the tragedy on Arthur’s Seat was the terrible culmination of a campaign of abuse.”
Mr Green added after the sentencing: “Kashif Anwar ended the lives of his wife and his unborn child. We were able to expose his lies on how Fawziyah fell to her death, partly through the evidence provided by Fawziyah herself.
“We are grateful to our partners in police forces north and south of the border, for assisting us in the pursuit of justice. We urge anyone who may be experiencing domestic abuse to come forward, report it and seek help.
"You will be taken seriously. Our thoughts are now with the family of Fawziyah Javed as they try to come to terms with their dreadful loss.”
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