Mum shares haunting last words of pregnant daughter pushed 50ft to her death off Arthur’s Seat

The mum of a pregnant woman murdered by her abusive husband has shared the haunting last words of her daughter before she died.

Fawziyah Javed, 31, and her unborn baby died after she was pushed off Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh in September 2021.

Her husband Kashif Anwar, 29, from Leeds, was found guilty of her murder following a High Court trial in April this year and was handed a life sentence, with an order to serve a minimum of 20 years behind bars.

Speaking in a TV interview, Ms Javed’s mum Yasmin Javed said had contacted divorce lawyers and made voice recordings of Mr Anwar being abusive before she died.

She told BBC Newsnight that she would never forget her daughter’s last words asking: “Am I going to die? Is my baby going to die?”. Mrs Javed said: “The words go round around my head every single day. Alongside the grief and pain, I can’t get them words out of my mind.”

The BBC reported that in one of the voice recordings Mr Anwar can be heard telling his wife not to challenge him, saying: “Don’t challenge me, do not be that British woman.”

Her daughter, who was about 17 weeks pregnant when she was pushed from Edinburgh landmark, used her dying words to reveal it was her husband who caused her to fall about 50ft before her body came to a rest.

Daniyah Rafique, 24, managed to reach the dying employment lawyer on the side of the hill, where she was told: “Don’t let my husband near me, he pushed me.” Police Constable Rhiannon Clutton, 35, was told by Ms Javed that her husband did it because she “told him I wanted to end (the marriage)”.

Giving evidence during the trial Mrs Javed said Mr Anwar was “abusive, controlling, manipulative, aggressive and violent” towards her daughter. She later told the BBC that the 29-year-old did not like the fact his wife was independent. Mrs Javed said: “He didn’t like the fact that Fawzi had her own voice, her own opinions. He didn’t like that.”

She explained that her daughter had contacted divorce lawyers to “get the ball rolling” but Mr Anwar always said he would never divorce her. The mother told the BBC: “He used to say to Fawziyah, we don’t have divorces in our family, we don’t divorce, we stay in marriages, no matter what.”

Judge Lord Beckett imposed a mandatory life sentence on Mr Anwar in April, saying he had committed a “wicked crime” and “showed no remorse and made no attempt to save her.”

He said: “She was willing to trust that you would keep her safe when she agreed to accompany you on your project to climb Arthur’s Seat despite a fear of heights and being pregnant. She was entitled to expect your protection and support.”

He added: “From the evidence led, it seems that you sought out a secluded position at the top of a cliff near the summit and waited until darkness fell, and it seemed that no-one was around, before you pushed your wife off the edge. This was intentional murder.

“The fall inevitably caused numerous serious injuries which were predictably fatal. You showed no remorse and made no attempt to save her by calling 999. You could have used her phone which was working and which you retained.

“As a result of your actions, Fawziyah Javed died far from home on a Scottish hillside and her loving family are left devastated and will never be the same again. Had she lived she would have given birth to your child some months later, but that life was also extinguished by you.”

In a victim impact statement, Mrs Javed said there a “no words” to describe her “depths of pain and grief” following her daughter’s death

A statement read on behalf of the Javed family outside court earlier this year added: “Our life sentence began the day that our daughter was brutally murdered. Whilst we welcome the verdict, this outcome does not feel like justice when compared to what we have lost.”