Christians Under Attack

Awais Akram, 25, looked like a 'cross between a zombie from a horror movie and the Incredible Hulk' after the assault in July last year, jurors were told.

Mr Akram was left burned and bleeding from his nose and eyes and with flesh hanging off his body, prosecutor David Markham said.

A 'high pitched scream rang out' as he was set upon by a group of men in the early hours of the morning in Leytonstone, east London, the Old Bailey heard.

Danish-born Mr Akram was allegedly targeted after his liaison with Sadia Khatoon was discovered by her husband and family.

It was she who helped to lay a 'deadly trap', said Mr Markham, luring him to the scene of the attack 'whether willingly or under some pressure from those who discovered the relationship'.

Mr Akram was stabbed and beaten as well as having sulphuric acid poured on him during the 'pre-meditated and murderous assault', the court heard.

The victim was left with 47 per cent burns and jurors were shown graphics of the extent of his injuries.

'Those are injuries which transformed his appearance,' Mr Markham said.

It is alleged that Khatoon's brother Mohammed Vakas, 26, and her cousin Mohammed Adeel, 20, planned to kill him 'as an act of revenge' for his relationship with her, and a 17-year-old youth was also recruited to the plot.

Adeel and Vakas, both of Walthamstow, north east London, and the teenager, who cannot be named, deny conspiring with Khatoon and her husband Shakeel Abassi to murder Mr Akram.

Vakas has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent, a charge his two co-defendants deny, jurors were told.

Khatoon and Abassi were last known to be in Pakistan, Mr Markham said.

The court heard that Mr Akram formed an online relationship with British-born Khatoon in March or April last year and they would later meet at her home in Walthamstow while her husband was out.

'The friendship was not platonic,' said Mr Markham. 'There was a degree of physical intimacy between the couple.

'It appears that he and Sadia in particular took some risks in terms of where they met and the amount of calls between them, that the relationship would become known to her husband and her wider family.'

The court heard Mr Akram travelled to Pakistan and got married in May 2009 and said it was not until shortly before that when he learned Khatoon was married.

He later returned to Britain without his wife, who had no visa, and told Khatoon he wanted to go back to Denmark, but she said she wanted to meet up with him in Pakistan and would buy him a ticket, the court heard.

It was arranged that he would stay in a room in Leytonstone for a week before the trip, jurors were told.

In the early hours of July 2 she called him and told him to go to an internet cafe and print out an electronic flight ticket to Pakistan, the court heard, which he did even though a friend who was with him said none were open.

'That proved to be a fateful decision,' said Mr Markham.

She claimed that she was with her mother in Watford but in fact was at a hotel near Heathrow Airport with her husband Abassi at the time, it is alleged.

Mr Akram was on the phone providing a 'running commentary' to her on where he was walking before he 'walked into a trap' and was subjected to a 'savage attack' by a group of men, the court heard.

He saw a man with a mask and thought he was being robbed, and dropped his mobile phone before being struck to the floor and beaten, jurors were told, and he then saw a bottle.

Mr Markham said: 'His attackers tried to pour sulphuric acid down his throat as Mr Akram covered his mouth.

'This was no robbery or attempted robbery. It was a very different order of crime indeed, conducted with an intention to kill.'

A witness had seen four men encircle the victim and one nearby resident heard a 'high-pitched scream'. Another looked out of her window and shouted at them to leave him alone before they ran off, and the victim shuffled away, jurors heard.

Mr Markham said: 'Mr Akram was to be seen by witnesses in the area immediately after the attack seeking help and in a terrible physical state, bleeding and burned with flesh hanging off his upper torso.

'Another witness was to see the victim as he begged for help, with his clothes in tatters and literally falling off him from the acid and blood coming from his nose and eyes and covering his bare chest.

'The witness told police the figure looked like a cross between a zombie from a horror movie and the Incredible Hulk."

The trial was adjourned until tomorrow.

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