A husband who stabbed his wife in the head is facing a life sentence, as a judge declared the attack was 'so close to a full murder'. Madia Bano, 25, has been left in a coma and permanently brain-damaged after receiving a single wound to the head at her home in Villa Road, Lozells on November 1 last year.
Parts of her brain are effectively now dead, and it is feared she will end up with a condition known as Locked-in plus syndrome, where a person is completely paralysed and unable to speak. Mother-of-four Bano was found by her husband, Amir Khan, also 25, who called emergency services and lied that she had fallen. However, experts concluded that a fall would not have caused Ms Bano's specific injury.
Khan was found guilty of attempted murder after a trial. He was due for sentence at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday, May 13, but Judge Dean Kershaw said he needed the probation service to assess whether Khan was a 'dangerous' offender or not. 'The seriousness of this incident for this offence which in my view is so close to a full murder, it's as close to a full murder as you can get on the facts, I must be able to decide whether he poses a significant risk to the public,' the judge said.
'Just because someone has not been in trouble before is not a bar to that.' The judge said he knew 'very little' about Khan, who did not say anything at the police station or give evidence at trial. He observed that if Khan was to receive an extended sentence, he would likely be in his late 40s or early 50s upon his release at the two-thirds point, whereas if he was an elderly man his potential danger to the public would be diminished.
The case was adjourned until July 7. Addressing Khan directly, Judge Kershaw told him: 'I am not delaying things to make it worse for anybody. I have to make any assessment as to what the right sentence will be. I'm not ruling out a life sentence but I need to know what probation feel as to whether you are dangerous. In the end that will be an assessment made by me but I will be assisted by probation's report.' He added: 'Ensure you engage with them. A lack of information can tell me an awful lot.'
Khan is a Pakistani national who claimed to immigration officers he arrived in the UK in the back of a lorry in 2017. He has had one asylum claim refused but was granted leave to remain until March this year on family and or private life grounds. He is currently classed as an 'overstayer'.
