Duane Owusu, 36, punched Zahwa Mukhtar, 27, in the neck and left her to die in the street after the pair met at a rave in east London
A killer dubbed Nasty has been convicted of murder after punching a profoundly deaf woman in the neck and abandoning her to die in the street. Duane Owusu, 36, threw Zahwa Mukhtar from a packed Mercedes vehicle and floored her with a single blow following a rave in east London.
On Thursday, an Old Bailey jury found him guilty of murdering 27-year-old Ms Mukhtar after nearly 12 hours of deliberation. Judge Richard Marks KC remanded Owusu in custody ahead of sentencing next Thursday.
The jury was not informed that Owusu received an eight-year prison term in 2010 for serving as getaway driver in a bungled robbery during which a Matalan shop manager was fatally knifed.
Ms Mukhtar had never encountered Owusu before meeting his group in the early hours of August 16 last year and sharing laughing gas balloons with them in Stoke Newington.
When they chose to head back to Dagenham, she had also climbed into the already cramped vehicle. During the trip, she had clashed with one of Owusu’s female companions, yanked her hair and made stabbing threats, jurors heard.
Owusu seized her mobile and hurled it from the car before forcing out the victim and delivering two kicks to her face as she sat on the kerb, prosecutors said.
As she stood up, Owusu struck her in the neck, sending her crashing to the ground, the court heard.
The shocking incident was recorded on harrowing CCTV footage and seen by Owusu’s appalled friends. Witness Paige Allen described Ms Mukhtar begging Owusu to stop before he delivered the fatal blow.
She told the jury: “He was just rage. He looked like a monster. His behaviour was just wrong. She just fell. Just fell backwards.
“I went to help her but he screamed at me to get in the car.”
After fleeing the scene in Chadwell Heath, Owusu and his companions were pulled over and searched by police a short distance away.
They were held for approximately 50 minutes before officers investigated reports from members of the public about a woman lying on the pavement further down the road.
Ms Mukhtar, who was employed as a finance assistant at the Young Vic Theatre in London, was discovered unconscious at 5.31am.
Despite the best efforts of police and paramedics at the scene, she was declared dead at 6.21am, having sustained a fractured skull and brain injury.
Owusu had denied striking Ms Mukhtar and insisted he only pushed her away from the vehicle to “de-escalate” the situation.
Giving evidence, Owusu said: “I did not believe she was hurt severely or badly.”
He told jurors he had been “traumatised” by what happened and never meant to harm her.
He denied murder and the alternative charge of manslaughter.
His trial was brought to a halt after Ms Mukhtar’s brother Abas Mukhtar was overwhelmed by fury and lunged at the defendant in the witness box, leaving jurors “extremely shaken up”.
Imposing a £1,000 fine on the 28-year-old plumber for contempt of court, Judge Marks said: “It was an ugly and sustained attempt at assault.
“It goes without saying, having seen the incident at close quarters I was absolutely appalled by the incident. I have never in all my years at the bar seen anything like it.”
The courtroom fell silent as both the defendant and the victim’s relatives heard the guilty verdict being announced.
Detective Chief Inspector Phil Clarke, from Scotland Yard, said his thoughts were with Ms Mukhtar’s family who had lost their daughter in “horrendous circumstances”.
He said: “CCTV footage collected by the investigation team painted a damning picture of Owusu’s guilt. The evidence revealed him to be a remorseless killer, who acted with callous disregard towards his victim.”