Family jailed after wife left in "vegetative state" in Huddersfield
Ambreen Fatima Sheikh suffered a catastrophic brain injury after being given anti-diabetes drugs
Last updated 14th Feb 2024
A husband has been jailed after his wife suffered a catastrophic brain injury and was left in a vegetative state in Huddersfield.
Ambreen Fatima Sheikh was 30 when she was given an anti-diabetes drug, after being flown over from Pakistan following an arranged marriage, Leeds Crown Court heard.
A judge said she was also doused in a chemical fluid, probably some kind of cleaning fluid, and was abused in the house in the days leading up to her hospital admission in 2015.
It was initially thought that Ms Sheikh, who is now 39, would die but, when her ventilator was turned-off in hospital, she began to breathe for herself.
The court heard that she has been left unaware of herself or her environment, without motor response or response to pain and will never recover.
Her husband Asgar Sheik, 31, was jailed for seven years and nine months, along with his father Khalid Sheik, 55, and mother Shabnam Sheikh, 52.
Asgar Sheikh’s brother, Sakalayne Sheikh, 25, was given a six month sentence, suspended for two years and his sister, Shagufa Sheikh, 29, was given an 18 month sentence, also suspended for two years.
The court heard how Ms Sheikh came to the family’s home in Clara Steet, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in 2014 after an earlier arranged marriage with Asgar in Pakistan.
The judge said that she rarely left the house and never by herself. Ms Sheikh had no independent income, no friends in England and could speak only a little English.
None of the family gave evidence in court and the judge said she could not say for sure when the abuse began.
The trial heard evidence that, soon after Ms Sheikh arrived in the UK, the family were not happy with her housework and chores and Khalid Sheikh has suggested that she should be sent back to Pakistan.
Concerns were raised by members of the extended family and two police officers did a welfare check in July on Ms Sheikh but reported her as being fit-and-well.
The judge said she attached "little weight to that assessment" as Ms Sheikh spoke little English and her father-in-law was present during the visit.
She said she did not know who administered the corrosive substance, which left severe burns on her lower back, bottom and right ear, and must have left Ms Sheikh in considerable and lasting pain.
And she said she did not know who "tricked or forced" her to take the glimpiride, which was prescribed to Shabnam Sheikh and is extremely dangerous to non-diabetics, even in small doses.
The judge decided that there was a tow to three day delay between Ms Sheikh falling unconscious and the family calling an ambulance, during which she became highly dehydrated and breathed-in fluids which may have exacerbated her brain injury.
Even when the family called 999, they lied about what happened to her, the judge said.
The judge said: "You would all have been aware of her pain and distress."
She added: "It's just not realistic to conclude that you did not all know of Ambreen's predicament and her desperate need for emergency medical care.
"You all also knew why she was in that condition."
The court heard how Ms Shiekh is now looked-after in a palliative care setting and will not recover but could live for decades more.
She was in good health and there is some evidence she was a teacher in Pakistan, the court heard
One witness said she was “intelligent, bright, ambitious and happy-go-lucky" before she moved to the UK, and the judge said she was someone who would "light up a room".
The judge said Ms Sheikh’s father was now dead and her mother is in poor health in Pakistan.
She has seven siblings and one of her brothers has been over to visit her.
Asgar, Khalid, Shabnam and Shagufa Sheikh were all found guilty after a trial of allowing a vulnerable adult to suffer physical harm after a trial last year.
This offence had a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison at the time of the offence but this has since been increased by parliament to 14 years.
Asgar, Shabnam and Shagufa Sheikh were also found guilty of doing an act intending to pervert the course of justice.
And, all five defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.