Balvinder Gahir: Man murdered ex-wife in property row

Family handout Balvinder GahirFamily handout
Balvinder Gahir had been "belittled and demonised" by her former husband for years, Coventry Crown Court heard

A man has been found guilty of murdering his ex-wife at her home following a dispute over property.

Balvinder Gahir, 54, died from serious head injuries inflicted at a house in Lillington, Leamington Spa.

A jury convicted Jasbinder Gahir of murder but cleared his son Rohan Gahir, 23, of the killing.

The younger man was found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Both are due to be sentenced on Thursday at Coventry Crown Court.

A lodger, Takudzwa Manduna, 28, of Erith, south-east London, was cleared of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The court heard 58-year-old Jasbinder Gahir, 58, had remortgaged the family home in Valley Road in 2008, without Mrs Gahir's knowledge and used part of the money to buy a flat in Slough.

He started taking a rental income but did not share the money with his wife.

'Frenzied assault'

Mrs Gahir, known as Bally, subsequently sought two court orders against her husband, following the breakdown of their marriage.

One of the orders, issued in 2012, banned him from threatening violence and harassing her, the court was told, and a second ordered him to transfer his interest in their family home and pay her £30,000 by September 2015.

The jurors were told she did not enforce the terms of the 2015 order, but by last summer prosecutor Phil Bradley QC said, "Bally had had enough" and decided to enforce the court order.

The court was told a recorded phone call captured Mr Gahir's "rage" at the decision and he said he would attack her "because she's a greedy cow... I worked for it all."

He and his son, from Maidenhead, Berkshire, were captured on CCTV parking by her home and Mr Gahir then entered the house unannounced and "subjected her to a sustained and frenzied assault" in her bedroom.

Paramedics found her with "catastrophic" injuries and she was confirmed dead at the scene on 24 August 2020.

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