Woman abused before Arthur's Seat fall, court told

A man's description of his wife as a "disease" was relevant to his state of mind moments before he allegedly murdered her, a court has heard.

Kashif Anwar, 29, from Leeds, Yorkshire, denies pushing his pregnant wife Fawziyah Javed, 31, to her death at Arthur's Seat in September 2021.

Alex Prentice KC told the High Court in Edinburgh that the only "just verdict" was to convict the accused of murder.

He highlighted evidence of what Mr Anwar allegedly said to his wife.

Mr Prentice gave his closing speech on the sixth day of proceedings against Mr Anwar after defence advocate Ian Duguid KC told judge Lord Beckett that his client would not be giving evidence.

The court previously heard as Ms Javed, from Pudsey, near Leeds, lay dying she told witnesses that her husband had pushed her.

The advocate depute said: "We heard about how if one of them died in childbirth, of how good that would be.

"We also heard of how he said she was a disease in everybody's life and of how he said to her 'the sooner you are dead or the sooner you are out of everybody's life the better.'

"I say that is relevant to his state of mind when he was on Arthur's Seat and it is relevant to Fawziyah Javed's last words as she lay there dying on the slopes of Arthur's Seat."

Mr Prentice also urged jurors to consider evidence about the couple's relationship, such as Ms Javed contacting a firm of solicitors in the months before she died to seek advice about getting a divorce.

Ms Javed's mother also gave evidence on her daughter's abuse code words.

The jury heard that if her daughter texted "I need cream cakes", she would treat it as a sign that she was in danger of being abused by Mr Anwar.

Mr Prentice said: "If you consider the evidence as a whole - not in isolation, you will be able to see that this was a controlling, abusive and increasingly volatile relationship.

"She wanted to end the relationship. He said that if she wanted to end the relationship he would ruin her."

Defence advocate Ian Duguid KC later urged jurors to acquit his client of murder.

He told them that Mr Anwar "came across as a horrible person" during the presentation of the evidence.

Mr Duguid said he could understand if the jury sympathised with Ms Javed as the evidence showed she was a "perfectly respectable woman".

However, the advocate told the jury that they had to put such feelings aside.

He added: "You have no evidence about what happened on the hill.

"You have no eyewitness telling about what happened. And yet the prosecution are telling you to find him guilty.

"You are being asked to take a massive guess. It's on the basis of a massive guess that you are being asked to convict him of murder."

Ms Javed fell from height at Arthur's Seat which resulted in her sustaining multiple blunt force injuries and being so severely injured that she died there.

It is also alleged as part of the murder charge that in consequence Mr Anwar caused the death of her unborn child.

The jury has been sent out to consider their verdict.