Mother and her three kids have been murdered by her sister’s drug-fuelled jealous ex who set hearth to the household dwelling in revenge assault, court docket hears
A man who allegedly attempted to murder his ex-girlfriend ended up killing her sister and her three children in a ‘catastrophic’ house fire, a court heard today.
Sharaz Ali was ‘motivated by jealousy and fuelled by drink and drugs’ when he set fire to the home of Bryonie Gawith and her three small children in the early hours of August 21 last year, a trial heard.
Prosecutors say Ali went to the house intending to ‘take revenge’ on his former partner – Bryonie’s sister Antonia Gawith – who was staying there after ending their ‘abusive’ seven-year relationship earlier that month.
Doncaster Crown Court jurors heard Ali and his associate, Calum Sunderland, forced their way into the house before Ali poured petrol around inside and set it alight.
Antonia managed to escape but Bryonie Gawith, 29, and her children Denisty Birtle, nine, Oscar Birtle, five, and 22-month-old Aubree Birtle died in the blaze.
Ali, 40, of no fixed address, and Sunderland, 26, of Calton Street, Keighley, are charged with murdering the family as well as attempting to murder Antonia Gawith.
Mohammed Shabir, 45, who had been due to go on trial with them, died of a heart attack last month after collapsing in prison.
Opening the case to jurors today, prosecutor David Brooke KC said the men drove 25 minutes from Keighley to Bradford just before 2am, stopping to buy a seven-litre can of petrol on the way.
Bryonie Gawith, 29, and her children, Denisty Birtle, nine, Oscar Birtle, five, and 22-month-old Aubree Birtle died in a tragic house fire last year
Antonia, who had finished her shift at Tesco at 12.30am, was with her sister Bryonie Gawith in the main bedroom upstairs.
The two older children slept in bunk-beds in the front bedroom and the baby was in a cot in the third small bedroom, the court heard.
Mr Brooke said Bryonie had fallen asleep but Antonia was still awake and started to walk downstairs when she heard a noise.
She saw the door being kicked in and a man in a tracksuit run off before Ali ran straight into the house and began pouring petrol on her, the court heard.
Mr Brooke said Antonia tried to get the petrol and lighter off him and then ran outside, screaming for help, hoping that he would follow her out.
She ran back to the house when she realised he had not, the court heard.
Mr Brooke said Antonia saw her sister, who had woken up, kick Sharaz Ali as he was walking up the stairs.
He said: ‘She managed to wrestle the container from him but he lit the lighter and a fire started including himself, the stairs and her sister.
‘She ended up outside the closed front door and was then unable to get back inside.
‘She ran around the back of the house but the back door had been jamming and she couldn’t get it open despite her kicking it.
The house on Westbury Road, Bradford, where the mother and her children were inside, with floral tributes left outside the property
‘As she ran out the first time screaming for help, you will see a car driving slowly past containing both Sunderland and Shabir, the driver. They did not stop, despite (Antonia) screaming for help.’
Mr Brooke told jurors they would see footage of Antonia running out screaming for help before the fire ‘exploded into life’.
He said some of the footage had been edited to mute screaming, which may have been from one of the children.
He told the court: ‘It’s possible that one was woken by the noise going on and was frightened by the sound of the explosion.When the fire officers went in, the children were all still found in their beds.
‘In due course a pathologist carried out an examination of the bodies and the analysis suggests that they were all rendered rapidly unconscious by the fumes.’
Jurors heard Sunderland and Shabir, who was driving, fled the scene in Shabir’s car back to Bradford.
Mr Brooke said: ‘The main mover in what happened was plainly Sharaz Ali.
‘Motivated by jealousy and fuelled by drink and drugs, it is obvious that he decided to take revenge on his ex-partner Antonia regardless of the potential consequences for others.
‘We, the prosecution, say that when you look at what he did there is only one sensible conclusion that can be reached.
‘That he went to the house at 2am intending to kill at least Antonia Gawith by burning the house down.
‘Tragically, he killed her sister and three small children.’
Jurors heard Ali and Antonia were together for about seven years in an ‘abusive relationship exacerbated by his drinking’.
Mr Brooke said Bryonie had encouraged her sister to leave Ali on several occasions.
The court heard that Antonia decided to separate from Ali while she was on holiday with Bryonie and her children in August last year, after he phoned her whilst drunk and caused ‘yet another argument’.
Mr Brooke said she agreed to stay with her sister for a few days while Ali moved out of her home.
He told the court Ali ‘was not happy about the break-up’ and continued to call and text her over the next few days, sometimes becoming ‘aggressive’ towards Antonia and her sister.
On the night of the fire, Ali spoke to Sunderland on the phone before texting Antonia just after midnight to ask what time she finished work, later sending her more aggressive messages.
Ali and Sunderland deny the charges and the trial continues.
