Thug ‘punched deaf accountant to ground after likelihood assembly on night time out’, homicide trial informed

A ‘vulnerable’ young woman was ‘senselessly killed’ after befriending a thug who punched her to death on a night out, a court heard.

Aspiring accountant Zahwa Mukhtar, who was profoundly deaf, died after she was knocked to the ground by Duane Owusu in August last year.

Ms Mukhtar, 27, had not met Owusu or his friends before she found herself crammed in a car with them following a night out in Stoke Newington, north London, when he allegedly kicked her out for filming something.

The court heard he then launched a vicious assault, kicking at her face before delivering the fatal punch after she fell to the floor and hit her head with what the prosecution described as a ‘sickening thud’.

Owusu, 36, got back into the car and left her dying on the ground.

He is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of murder and manslaughter.

Opening the case this morning, prosecutor Henrietta Paget KC said: ‘This case concerns the senseless killing of a vulnerable young woman, Zahwa Mukhtar, who had fallen in with a group of strangers on a night out. Among them was the defendant, Duane Owusu.’

Jurors were then shown harrowing footage of the moment Ms Mukhtar was ejected from a silver Mercedes owned and driven by another member of the group, Leron Parris.

Trainee accountant Zahwa Mukhtar, 27, was killed on a night out last summer 

The prosecutor said: ‘The occupants of the vehicle had been drinking and taking drugs, Ms Mukhtar included.

‘You will hear evidence that she was behaving erratically within the vehicle – flirting with the boys and picking fights with the girls.

‘Nobody knew her, and it appears that her behaviour was causing increasing annoyance. 

‘Just as the vehicle approached Chadwell Heath, Ms Mukhtar began recording a video on her phone. And this, it seems, was the trigger for Mr Owusu.’

The prosecutor said footage showed Owusu – who the court heard uses the nickname ‘Nasty’ and had been at a rave – throwing Ms Mukhtar’s mobile phone out of a rear passenger door, before ejecting the victim, who had been sitting on his lap, once the vehicle had come to a stop.

Ms Paget said: ‘She (Ms Mukhtar) landed on her backside on the pavement.

‘Getting out after her, he (Owusu) aimed two kicks at her face as she sat on the ground.

‘One of the female members of the group also sitting in the back got out to try to stop the attack, but he swung her aside.

‘And Ms Mukhtar by this stage had managed to get to her feet and was pleading with Mr Owusu to stop.

‘But he punched her, hard, to the neck, knocking her to the ground where she lay, motionless.’

The court heard that Ms Mukhtar fell so hard she suffered a fractured skull and fatal brain injury. 

The prosecutor said: ‘So, far from doing anything to help her, Mr Owusu shouted at the others to get back in the car and Mr Parris drove away.

‘And so it was that Ms Mukhtar was left to die.’

Mr Mukhtar worked as a finance assistant at the Young Vic Theatre in Waterloo, where she was described as ‘bright, bubbly, enthusiastic and very eager to learn’.

The court heard she was profoundly deaf, but coped well with her disability because she was adept at lip-reading and used sign language.

The court heard that while she was ‘from a traditional family by background, she had made it clear that she wanted to live like any other young person in their twenties’.

Owusu, from Dagenham, denies the charges. The trial continues.