This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/west_midlands/8084972.stm
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Captive girl 'starved to death' | Captive girl 'starved to death' |
| (21 minutes later) | |
| A seven-year-old girl was starved to death while being kept prisoner in her home by her mother and her partner, a court has heard. | A seven-year-old girl was starved to death while being kept prisoner in her home by her mother and her partner, a court has heard. |
| Khyra Ishaq was possibly starved for months and died of an infection, Birmingham Crown Court was told. | Khyra Ishaq was possibly starved for months and died of an infection, Birmingham Crown Court was told. |
| Jurors heard doctors had rarely seen as severe a case of starvation in the UK. | |
| Khyra's mother Angela Gordon, 34, and Junaid Abuhamza, 30, both of Leyton Road, Handsworth, Birmingham, deny murdering Khyra on 17 May last year. | Khyra's mother Angela Gordon, 34, and Junaid Abuhamza, 30, both of Leyton Road, Handsworth, Birmingham, deny murdering Khyra on 17 May last year. |
| Prosecutor Timothy Raggatt, QC, said Khyra had been starved to a point that was almost unique in the experience of British medical staff. | |
| 'Calculated and deliberate' | |
| He told jurors: "It's highly likely that you will find some of what you will hear distressing and disturbing. | |
| "The actual means or process which resulted in [Khyra's death] was brought about by a series of actions that were in effect the deliberate and calculated starvation of that little girl over a period, certainly of weeks, and very possibly months." | |
| Mr Raggatt told the jury they would need to remain dispassionate and added: "The cruelty and maltreatment of that little girl, you may well come to think, was both ultimately calculated and obviously deliberate." | |
| He said Ms Gordon and Mr Abuhamza had betrayed their duty of care for Khyra and five other children. | |
| Mr Abuhamza has admitted five counts of child cruelty while Ms Gordon denies five counts of child cruelty between December 2007 and May 17, 2008. |