Parents of local toddler admit manslaughter

6th Mar 2010

THE mother and step­fa­ther of Khyra Ishaq have been found guilty of her manslaughter.

Seven-year-old Khyra was found ema­ci­ated at her mother’s home in Handsworth, Birm­ing­ham on 17th May 2008 and was pro­nounced dead on arrival at Birm­ing­ham Children’s Hos­pi­tal due to star­va­tion. The post-mortem exam­i­na­tion found that she weighed 2st 9lb (16.5kg) at the time of her death.

Ear­lier on, in the fourth week of the trial at Birm­ing­ham Crown Court, Khyra’s mother Angela Gor­don and step­fa­ther, Junaid Abuhamza, denied her mur­der but admit­ted her manslaughter.

Abuhamza’s plea of manslaugh­ter was accepted by the pros­e­cu­tion in light of the evi­dence that he suf­fered from peri­odic attacks of schizophrenia.

Gor­don was also cleared of mur­der and her plea of manslaugh­ter accepted on the basis of dimin­ished responsibility.

It is reported that dur­ing the course of the trial ‚doc­tors and offi­cials giv­ing tes­ti­mony of the state Khyra before she died, were reduced to tears.

Mrs Jus­tice King accused Birm­ing­ham City Coun­cil of not car­ry­ing out cer­tain pro­ce­dures which may have pre­vented the death of Khyra.

In her clos­ing state­ment she stated: ‘It is beyond belief that, in 2008, in a bustling, ener­getic and mod­ern city like Birm­ing­ham, a child of seven was with­drawn from school and there­after kept in squalid con­di­tions for a period of five months before finally dying of starvation’.

In defence, Birm­ing­ham City Coun­cil says they have pre­vi­ously made sig­nif­i­cant adjust­ments in pro­tect­ing chil­dren who are at risk.

Gor­don and Abuhamza will be sen­tenced on Friday.