A US citizen accused of attempting to shoot a stranger dead has suggested the perpetrator was “another American woman” who sounded similar to her, used the same phone and wore the same sort of trainers.
Aimee Betro, 45, told jurors that it was “all just a terrible coincidence” that she was around the corner from the scene of the attempted assassination six minutes later.
Betro, who denies conspiracy to murder, is alleged to have flown into Britain and taken part in a plot orchestrated by co-conspirators Mohammed Aslam, 56, and his son Mohammed Nabil Nazir, 31, to attack a rival family, in September 2019.
Betro, from West Allis in Wisconsin, told jurors on Tuesday that she did not know there had been an attempted killing when she left the UK two days afterwards.
Prosecutors allege Betro hid her identity using a niqab when she tried to shoot Sikander Ali at point blank range outside his home in Measham Grove, Yardley, Birmingham, but the gun jammed, allowing him to flee.
Birmingham Crown Court has heard Aslam and Nazir, who were jailed last year for their part in the assassination plot, were involved in a feud with Mr Ali’s father, Aslat Mahumad.
Addressing the evidence against her in chronological order during questioning by defence barrister Paul Lewis KC, Betro claimed she was in Birmingham city centre at the time of the attempted assassination, and a follow-up shooting at the intended victim’s house hours later.
She also maintained that a woman described as having an American accent and being small and fat, who bought a vehicle linked to the plot, was not her.
Betro went on to claim that she did not have possession of a gun at any time during the night of September 7 into the early hours of September 8, when three shots were fired at a house in Measham Grove after a woman arrived there in a taxi.
During cross-examination of Betro, prosecutor Tom Walkling KC asked her a series of questions about what she claimed the “different American woman” had done at about the time of the attempted murder and the follow-up incident.
Answering questions from Mr Walkling, the defendant said that the other American woman had called Mr Mahumad, using a phone Betro had bought.
Betro claimed she had not bought a Mercedes car used in the plot, then agreed with Mr Walkling when he asked if “that was a different American woman as well?”
Mr Walkling then asked: “And you didn’t try to murder Sikander Ali that evening?”
Betro said: “No.”
Mr Walkling continued: “But you were around the corner six minutes later?”
Betro answered: “Yes.”
The graphic design and childhood education graduate, who spent five years living in Armenia before her arrest in January this year, confirmed to Mr Walkling that it was her case that the “other American woman” who had fired shots at a property in Measham Grove in the early hours and was “using your phone and wearing shoes like yours”.
Mr Walkling then asked “It’s all just a terrible coincidence is it?” and Betro replied: “Yes.”
The prosecutor said: “So there must be, on your case, another American woman in Birmingham at the same time as you, who knew Mr Nazir, who sounded similar to you, who used the cheap phone that you bought, who called (a taxi firm) on your own telephone, and who wore at the very least the same sort of Converse trainers you had.”
Betro answered: “Yes.”
Mr Walkling continued: “This other American woman we are describing told a taxi (driver) she wanted to go back to the Rotunda.
“So was this mysterious American woman who shared so many characteristics with you also staying at the Rotunda? It does sound rather like you doesn’t it?”
Wearing a black top, glasses and with her hair in space buns, Betro replied: “No.”
She also claimed she had “no reason or motive” to carry out the shooting and did not know the intended victim’s family.
Betro told the jury on Monday that she flew into Britain to celebrate her birthday and attend a boat party, having met Nazir on a dating app and having previously travelled to the UK to meet him.
The defendant also denies possessing a self-loading pistol and a charge of fraudulently evading the prohibition on importing ammunition.
The trial continues.
