Arthur's Seat murder trial told woman said husband 'pushed her'

A hillwalker has told a murder trial that a pregnant woman she discovered lying critically injured on Arthur's Seat said her husband had pushed her.

Kashif Anwar, 29, denies assaulting and murdering his wife Fawziyah Javed, 31, on the Edinburgh hill in 2021.

Daniyah Rafique, said she found Ms Javed, from Pudsey, near Leeds, alive and scared at the bottom of a cliff.

She said when she yelled to alert Mr Anwar, the injured woman said: "Don't let my husband near me, he pushed me".

Ms Rafique told the High Court in Edinburgh: "I was very surprised; I said 'are you sure?'"

She said Ms Javed replied: "I think so, I can't remember".

Ms Rafique, a 24-year-old engineer, said the injured woman, who was carrying an unborn child, later repeated: "Don't let Kash near me, he pushed me."

The hillwalker said she kept telling Ms Javed she would be OK and that the police and ambulances were on their way.

A police officer who went to Ms Javed's aid also told the jury the stricken woman had said her husband had pushed her because she tried to end the relationship.

PC Rhiannon Clutton said Ms Javed had an obvious head injury when she found her, but was still able to speak despite "writhing in pain".

When she asked the woman what had happened, she said her response was: "He pushed me."

"I asked her who had pushed her and why," PC Clutton added. "She said 'my husband. I tried to end it'."

When the officer sought clarification to her response, she was told: "My relationship."

PC Clutton said the injured woman told her that her mobile phone had been taken from her and asked the officer "why he was like that, why he treated her like that".

"She asked me to keep her husband away from her," the constable said. "At that point I advised her he was with my colleagues and she stated 'good'".

Ms Javed "repeatedly asked for water" and asked "if she was going to die and if her baby was going to die", she added.

PC Clutton said Ms Javed's condition slowly deteriorated and she became unresponsive.

The officer started performing chest compressions on her before a paramedic team arrived and made further unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate her. Ms Javed was pronounced dead from her injuries.

The court earlier heard Ms Javed was scared of heights.

Before her trip, she told a friend her husband was "really keen" to visit the 251m (823ft)-high Edinburgh landmark but she said: "I am not sure."

A friend of the dead woman, Lubna Qasim, recalled that Ms Javed had told her that she and her husband were travelling to the Scottish capital and she asked about their plans.

Ms Qasim, 33, told the jury: "She mentioned that Kashif was really keen to visit Arthur's Seat. I said that sounds good. I said it was on my bucket list of places I wanted to visit."

The witness, who previously visited Edinburgh, said her friend looked her straight in the eye and said: "I am not sure".

Ms Qasim said: "It was on my bucket list but not hers. Even on my bucket list I would not go there in the evening, pregnant."

The solicitor told the court she knew her friend "definitely was afraid of heights".

Ms Qasim said they had previously been on a trip to Barcelona and Ms Javed was "petrified" when they went on a cable car.

She also said her friend was more into shopping than going for walks.

Ms Qasim said she met Ms Javed during freshers' week at Sheffield University in 2008 and described her as "a very charismatic person".

She said the employment law solicitor had expressed frustration that her husband "spent all his time playing video games" when he had to revise to resit optometry exams he had failed at Bradford University.

Mr Anwar also denies a second charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner towards his wife at the Residence Inn by Marriott at Edinburgh's Quartermile by repeatedly shouting at her.

The trial before Lord Beckett continues.