Nusayba Umar: Dog breeder guilty of murdering toddler after meeting mother on dating site

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An unlicensed dog breeder who shook a 16-month-old baby girl to death just five weeks after meeting her mother on a dating website is facing a life sentence.

Kamran Haider, 39, attacked Nusayba Umar, causing catastrophic brain injuries, on 13 September 2019.

The girl’s mother, Asiyah Amazir, called 999 and wrongly claimed her daughter had fallen ill on a bus, the Old Bailey heard. Nusayba, who weighed just 17lb, was rushed to hospital but died four days later.

Haider had a history of violence, attacking a former girlfriend and abusing her children to “teach them a lesson”.

On Monday, a jury found him guilty of murder and child cruelty in his absence.

Ms Justice Cheema-Grubb adjourned sentencing until Wednesday, saying: “Mr Haider has declined to attend his hearing today. I would like to give him the chance to be here for his sentence.”

Nusayba’s death was caused by “violent shaking” and impact, prosecutor Edward Brown QC said previously.

He told jurors although they “will understand that injuries such as these can be caused in a few seconds, that will not diminish the catastrophic results of such violence”.

Haider lived with his mother in a four-bedroom house in Ilford, north-east London. Ms Amazir, from Newham, east London, met him through a dating website and effectively moved in to help with his dog breeding business, jurors heard.

At first, Ms Amazir had no real concerns about Haider’s behaviour - which could be “snappy” and “verbally aggressive”, the court heard.

Just over a fortnight before the fatal attack, Nusayba allegedly suffered a separate head injury while in the care of the defendant.

Haider told Ms Amazir that Nusayba had fallen over in the kitchen while he was in the garden feeding his dogs. He went on to become increasingly threatening towards mother and child, it was alleged.

He put Nusayba in a corner, hit her on the hand during “time out”, and made her adopt various “stress positions”, Mr Brown said. If Ms Amazir tried to intervene, he would slap her, jurors were told.

Mr Brown said Haider appeared to justify his behaviour by accusing Ms Amazir of being too soft, telling her Nusayba would “grow up to be a p***y”.

On the day of Haider’s killer attack, Ms Amazir got up to tend to the dogs when she heard Nusayba crying, jurors heard.

As she went towards her room, she allegedly heard the defendant say “shut up, Nusayba” followed by a slapping sound. She heard Nusayba “yelp” in response, jurors were told.

Afterwards, the girl did not seem herself, though there was no outward sign of injury, the court heard.

At around 5pm, Nusayba began having a fit and Haider suggested to Ms Amazir that she take the youngster to her home to “relax”, jurors heard. Ms Amazir left and called an ambulance from the bus stop at the end of the road.

She told the operator her daughter started having a fit on a bus, only later disclosing she was scared of Haider, the court was told.

When paramedics arrived, it was clear Nusayba was “gravely ill” and she taken to hospital.

Her condition did not improve and, on September 17 2019, intensive care support was withdrawn and she died.

Mr Brown told jurors: “Whether in the end it was a severe blow to the head or a severe shaking of her - or both - does not matter for the purposes of this trial of this defendant for her murder, and nor do the prosecution have to prove that it was one or the other.

“Either - or both - of course involved a very serious and fatal assault on a defenceless child.

“Make no mistake, it was a terrible assault and it killed Nusayba.”

He suggested that on Ms Amazir’s account, the defendant had carried out a short-lived but devastating assault “possibly in a fit of temper or even as some sort of punishment”.

Haider had denied any physical contact, let alone an assault - but his claim was rejected by the jury.

Additional reporting by Press Association