A UNIVERSITY student was murdered to “vindicate a family’s honour” after he fell in love with their daughter and made her pregnant, a court was told yesterday.

Chomir Ali, a Bangladeshi Muslim living in Oxford, ordered his son, Mohammed Mujibar Rahman, to kill Arash Ghorbani-Zarin for the “shame and dishonour” brought on their family by Mr Ghorbani-Zarin’s relationship with his daughter, Manna Begum, it was alleged at Oxford Crown Court.

Julian Baughan, QC, for the prosecution, said that Mr Ali, a 44-year-old waiter, became “angry” in summer 2003 when his 19-year-old daughter began going out with Mr Ghorbani-Zarin, 19, who was from a Muslim Iranian family living in Oxford. Mr Baughan told the trial that Miss Begum already had a marriage to someone else arranged for her; but despite her family’s disapproval, the lovers continued to see each other, the court was told.

Mr Ali banned his daughter from contacting her boyfriend, taking her mobile phone from her and prohibiting her from leaving the family home.

This led her to attempt suicide and run away from home to stay with a friend’s aunt, the court was told. In August last year the couple got engaged after Miss Begum discovered that she was pregnant with Mr Ghorbani-Zarin’s child. Miss Begum returned home in October, and again her boyfriend was told by Mr Ali that he was not welcome.

On November 20 Mr Ghorbani-Zarin was found dead in his car, a green Renault, in Spencer Crescent, Oxford, which is close to his home. He had been on his way to watch a DVD at a friend’s house. His friend began looking for him when Mr Ghorbani-Zarin did not turn up.

He was found with 46 stab wounds, mainly to the chest, the trial was told. His head had been tied to the headrest of the car following his death, Mr Baughan said, and he was found by passers-by. Mr Baughan alleged that Mr Ali’s son, known as Muji, had committed the murder. Muji, 19, was arrested the next day.

Three days later a man, alleged to be Mr Ali, was spotted stopping his red Toyota car at nearby allotments and throwing a bag over a hedge. The supermarket carrier bag was found to contain a knife covered in Mr Ghorbani-Zarin’s blood and clothes which DNA tests showed were worn by Mr Ali’s son.

The father and son are standing trial for murder. Also on trial for murder is a 16-year-old, who cannot be named. Mr Ali also faces an alternative charge of assisting an offender. He is not said to have been present at the killing. Mr Baughan told the jury that the “family’s dislike of the relationship was the motive” for the murder.

Mr Baughan said: “The relationship brought shame and dishonour on the family that drove the accused to murder Mr Ghorbani-Zarin to vindicate the family’s honour.”

He added that in November 2003 the treatment to which Miss Begum’s family subjected her led to her slitting her wrists. Ambulance staff were contacted and Mr Ali and his wife refused to let them in, pushing Miss Begum out of the house and causing her head to hit the pavement, the court was told.

In the week before his murder Mr Ghorbani-Zarin had shown friends a scan of his unborn child, inviting them to his forthcoming wedding. Mr Ghorbani-Zarin, an electronic engineering student at Oxford Brookes University, was described by Mr Baughan as “fun-loving” with a great sense of humour and “without an enemy in the world”.

On realising Miss Begum was expecting his baby, he quit his course and got a job at a toy store, intending to provide for his family, the court was told.

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