A Midland recovery truck driver accused of murdering his teenage girlfriend by crushing her against a lamppost told a jury he lied about a hit-and-run because he panicked.
Prosecution's Allegations
Prosecutors allege that 19-year-old Lily Whitehouse suffered catastrophic chest injuries when Mohammed Azim used his flatbed truck as a weapon to pin her to a lamppost during an argument in Oldbury on his 41st birthday on November 5 last year.
Azim, who is on trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court, denies murder. He told a jury on Monday, June 15, that he hit her accidentally after dropping her near her home, having initially told police that another vehicle had hit her and driven off.
Cross-Examination Details
Prosecution counsel Rachel Brand KC told Azim, who cried in the witness box and dabbed his eyes with a tissue, that he had lied repeatedly about how Ms Whitehouse, a mother to a newborn baby fathered by another man, died.
He told police and paramedics that he saw Ms Whitehouse hit by a car that left the scene, a story they found strange. However, he told his trial that he had accidentally run her over as he tried to leave her and go home.
You were angry with her that night and you chased her down the road in your truck, did you not? Ms Brand asked the defendant.
He replied: No, that is 100 per cent not true. There was no need for me to chase her. When I was about to leave, she wanted to come back with me. That is the truth.
Lies to Emergency Services
Ms Brand said Azim told the 999 call handler that he had seen her hit by a car because he was trying to protect himself.
When you told that lie, you were thinking of yourself, were you not, because you did not want to get the blame, Ms Brand said during cross-examination.
The defendant replied: I did not believe myself that this had happened. I was lost. My head was all over the place.
Ms Brand added: You kept up these lies when paramedics and police arrived. You told them it happened down there. You pointed at an SUV type vehicle and said it was like that one.
You said, 'I wish I could have chased him,' did you not? You also said, 'That motherf*****, if I could catch him I would kill him,' did you not?
Accepting that he had said that, Azim said: I was not in control myself. I was totally lost.
Additional Lies
Ms Brand said Azim also lied repeatedly to doctors who visited him in custody.
She said his lies included saying that he did not have a romantic relationship with the victim, that he could not speak to one professional because there was no Mirpuri interpreter, and that he could not have dropped Ms Whitehouse off at her home in Amber Drive, Oldbury, on the night she died because there were drugs people after her.
Azim said he could not remember saying those things because he had been on medication. Ms Brand asked: Your main thought has been to pretend it was not your fault, has it not?
The defendant replied: No. It did not feel real to me. My head was all over the place. I panicked.
Defendant's Explanation
Asked why he told police after his arrest that he could not remember what had happened to Ms Whitehouse, Azim said: I was not in my control. I was lost. I panicked. It was shocking. It was a shock.
Ms Brand asked: Did you not want to tell the police it had been a terrible accident? The defendant said: It took me a long time to recover from this trauma. I was lost.
Wiping his eyes with a tissue as he was asked by his defence barrister Imran Shafi KC about his mental state, Azim said he was no longer under observation due to concerns that he may take his own life, but was still on medication.
He said: If I could give my life to bring her back, I would.
The trial continues.
