A family who left an arranged bride in a vegetative state after she was forced to swallow pills and doused with a corrosive substance have been jailed.
Ambreen Fatima Sheikh was 30 when she was "tricked or coerced" into taking the anti-diabetes drug glimepiride, which caused catastrophic brain damage, after she was brought to Britain from Pakistan following an arranged marriage, Leeds Crown Court heard.
Ms Sheikh was also doused with a corrosive substance, likely some type of cleaning fluid, which left severe burns while she was assaulted in the home in the days leading up to her admission to hospital on August 1, 2015, a judge said on Wednesday.
It was initially thought that Ms Sheikh, who is now 39, would die, but when her ventilator was turned off in hospital she began breathing on her own. The court heard she has no awareness of herself or her surroundings, with no motor response or reaction to pain, and will never recover. Prosecutors said she will only survive if she is fed through a tube and will eventually die as a result of what happened to her, although this may not happen for years.
Sentencing judge, Mrs Justice Lambert, said: "It is difficult to imagine a more serious injury short of death."
On Wednesday, Ms Sheikh's husband, Asgar Sheikh, 31, was jailed for seven years and nine months, along with his father, Khalid Sheikh, 55, and his mother, Shabnam Sheikh, 52. Asgar Sheikh's brother, Sakalayne Sheikh, 25 , received a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and his sister, Shagufa Sheikh, 29, received an 18-month prison sentence, also suspended for two years.
The court was told:
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The family was unhappy with Ms Sheikh's housework and chores, and Khalid Sheikh had suggested she be sent back to Pakistan, according to evidence heard at the trial.
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Although police officers conducted a welfare check in response to the concerns raised, the judge said she gave "little weight to that assessment" because Ms Sheikh spoke little English and her father-in-law was present during the visit.
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Ms Sheikh was "tricked or coerced" into taking the anti-diabetes drug glimepiride, which caused catastrophic brain damage
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She was also doused with a corrosive substance, probably some kind of cleaning fluid, which left severe burns
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The judge ruled that there was a delay of two to three days between Ms Sheikh becoming unconscious and the family calling an ambulance
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As a result of the abuse, she is in a persistent vegetative state from which she will never recover
The story continues
The court heard that Ms Sheikh came to the family's home in Clara Steet, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in 2014 after a previously arranged marriage to Asgar in Pakistan. The judge said she rarely left the house and never alone. She had no independent income, no friends in Britain and spoke only a little English.
None of the family gave evidence in court and the judge said she could not say for certain when the abuse began.
Evidence emerged during the trial that soon after Ms Sheikh arrived in Britain, the family was unhappy with her housework and chores, and Khalid Sheikh had suggested she be sent back to Pakistan.
Concerns were raised by members of the extended family and two police officers carried out a welfare check in July but reported Ms Sheikh was fit and well. The judge said she placed "little weight on that assessment" because Ms Sheikh spoke little English and her father-in-law was present during the visit.
She said she did not know who administered the caustic substance, which left severe burns on Ms Sheikh's lower back, lower leg and right ear and must have caused her significant and persistent pain. And she said she did not know who "misled or coerced" her into taking the glimpseiride, which was prescribed to Shabnam Sheikh and is extremely dangerous for non-diabetics even in small doses.
The judge found there was a delay of two to three days between Ms Sheikh becoming unconscious and the family calling an ambulance, during which she became severely dehydrated and inhaled fluids that may have worsened her brain injury.
Even when the family called 999 they lied about what had happened to her, the judge said.
"You would all have known about her pain and fear," she said. "It is simply unrealistic to conclude that you were not all aware 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 that Ms Sheikh is now being cared for in a palliative care setting and will not recover but could live for decades.
She was in good health before collapsing and there is evidence she was a teacher in Pakistan, the court heard. One witness said she was "intelligent, smart, ambitious and cheerful" before moving to Britain, and the judge said she was someone who "would light up a room".
The judge said Ms Sheikh's father is now dead and her mother is in poor health in Pakistan. She has seven siblings and one of her brothers came to visit her.
Asgar, Khalid, Shabnam and Shagufa Sheikh were all found guilty after a trial last year of causing a vulnerable adult to suffer bodily harm following a trial.
At the time of the offence, the offense carried a maximum prison sentence of ten years, but this has since been increased by Parliament to fourteen years.
Asgar, Shabnam and Shagufa Sheikh were also found guilty of committing an act intended to pervert the course of justice.
All five defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Speaking after sentencing, DCI Matthew Holdsworth, of the Homicide and Major Inquiry Team, said: "This has been a terrible case in which a young, healthy woman has been catastrophically injured and robbed of her future by the very people she should have expected to care for her. would protect her. .
"While Ambreen is technically still alive, tragically it is believed that she may never regain consciousness.
"I am grateful that at least today justice was served for Ambreen and that those responsible for her suffering were punished for the truly evil offenses they committed."
