What they did was evil says dad of tragic Birmingham girl Khyra Ishaq

Feb 28 2010

THE devastated father of Khyra Ishaq spoke lovingly of the daughter starved to death by her mum and step-dad and said: ‘‘What they did was evil – I’ll never forgive them.’’

The seven-year-old died after being beaten and denied food for months by warped mother Angela Gordon and her sadistic husband Junaid Abuhamza.

Biological father Ishaq Abuzaire had no idea the Muslim couple had been abusing his little girl after taking her out of school and locking her away from the world.

The malnourished youngster eventually died at her Handsworth home in Birmingham, after social workers and education bosses failed to act on concerns about her welfare from teachers and her dad.

‘‘Angela let the devil into that house the day she allowed Junaid to step through that front door,’’ said Mr Ishaq.

“What he did to Khyra was an abomination and I never imagined her mother could do something so evil.’’

Birmingham Crown Court heard how Khyra was taken out of school on December 6, 2007, despite previously enjoying a 100 per cent attendance record.

Her mother had claimed the bright schoolgirl was being bullied and insisted on home tutoring.

By May 7 the following year, Khyra was dead after months of being beaten and starved of food by her schizophrenic step-dad, 30 and 35-year-old Gordon.

At the end, the youngster had lost 40 per cent of her bodyweight and was so hungry that neighbours saw her taking stale bread from a bird table, as well as trying to eat grass.

The cupboards and fridge in the family’s kitchen were stocked with food – but locked to Khyra and her siblings.

Muslim convert Mr Ishaq had married Gordon in 1995 and the couple had six children together. But the marriage faltered after he took a second wife, as allowed under their faith.

It was during this period that his former friend Abuhamza began a secret relationship with Khyra’s mum that would ultimately end in the saddest of deaths.

Mr Ishaq, 38, said: ‘‘Me and Angela were happy for years, but as Muslims we both knew I would eventually seek a second wife. Angela accepted this, so I met my second wife Carolina in 2003.

‘‘But little by little she became more distant and we drifted away from each other. Yet I was always there for the children and visited regularly and had a great relationship with them. I loved them and cared for them as dearly as any father would.

‘‘But in late 2003 I phoned Angela from Spain – where Carolina’s parents live – and it was like I was talking to a different person.

“She told me that as far as she was concerned we were now divorced, that she had been given advice by someone in the community and they had told her what I was doing was wrong.

“When I got back to UK I went round to see her and she was like a different person. Her behaviour had changed completely, she was not the person I used to know and was aggressive, violent and shaking.

“I couldn’t understand what had happened to her. All she would tell me was that she had been given advice that we should divorce because I was not good for her any more.

“A few days later I saw her with Junaid. I knew him well as we had met at Wright Street mosque in Small Heath and would pray together from time to time.

“He used to come to me in the mosque, rub his belly like a pauper and tell me he hadn’t eaten in days.

‘‘He had no money for anything and couldn’t even feed himself.

“I gave him the clothes off my back and made sure he had a full stomach.

‘‘I took him under my wing and even had him over to the house on a few occasions to eat with us and helped him out wherever I could. I treated him like one of my own children.

“So I was very upset to see her with him and knew immediately he was the mysterious person who had been giving her advice.

“I confronted them but Junaid was very arrogant and refused to speak to me properly and they drove them off in the car I had bought for Angela.

“I later tried to explain to her that if she was upset there were proper channels she should have gone through, and not to take the advice of this guy who everyone in the community had warned her against.’’

He added: “After I confronted them I knew the relationship was over but I was still the children’s father and tried my best to keep the family together.

“But Junaid continued to interfere in my family’s affairs and gradually turned Angela against me.

“Things got ugly when I confronted him outside a pub near the mosque one day and told him to give me back the keys to Angela’s car.

“He refused and got aggressive and we got into scuffle outside the Malt and Shovel pub. I know I shouldn’t have done it but something snapped and I ended up knocking him through the pub window.

“I was arrested and eventually convicted of criminal damage and assault and battery, but he was made out look like the victim. He and Angela were very deceptive people who managed to turn the court against me – but they never turned my children against me.

“I still went to visit them as often as I could and made sure they were OK and the children were always healthy when I saw them.

“But as Junaid’s influence over Angela became stronger and stronger, it became more and more difficult for me to see the children. Sometimes she would let me in and sometimes she wouldn’t, until one day she refused to let me in at all.