A schoolboy has been accused of hiring a hitman to kill his mother because she was too strict. Danish Minhas, 17, allegedly offered a classmate £3,000 to murder Tabassum Khan because she was ‘controlling’. Mrs Khan was discovered dead in her blood-splattered flat six weeks ago, having been stabbed 36 times.
Her son was said to be angry at having to carry out household chores and keeping a 10pm curfew. Detectives in Houston, Texas, said the ‘model student’ came up with a murder-for-hire plot with classmate Nur Mohamed. He acted as lookout when Mohamed savagely attacked Mrs Khan, 43. ‘She fought for her life,’ said murder squad detective Sergeant Brian Harris. ‘She fought and fought and fought. That’s why the scene was as gruesome as it was.’
Minhas, who was about to begin a work placement scheme with the Houston police, was not initially considered a suspect. He told officers he had returned home from a rare night out to find his mother’s body. Minhas told police she must have been surprised by an intruder who stole money she was counting for the Muslim feast of Eid. But police became sceptical as other family members said the boy was not allowed out on school nights.
A week after Mrs Khan’s murder Mohamed, 18, was arrested on a separate drugs charge. His fingerprints were found to match those at the murder scene. Mohamed, who is from Somalia, was arrested at school while Minhas was taken into custody at a relative’s home. Both students confessed to being involved in the murder, with Minhas telling police he acted as lookout.
Minhas, who was a popular and high-achieving student at Lee High School in Houston, told police he found his mother too controlling. ‘Danish felt he was a man and he did not like the restrictions his mother had placed on him,’ said Sergeant Harris. He called the victim a ‘strict Muslim mother who followed her faith but not only that, no different from any other parent . . . who set out rules for their children to follow’. He said the rules were ‘very simple things’ such as the need to stick to a curfew, do chores, be home at night and stay off motorways.
Family members said Mrs Khan worked 14 hours a day to provide a better life for her son but had recently lost her job as a medical administrator. Both students have been charged with capital murder. Prosecutors said as Minhas is only 17 they cannot seek the death penalty but have yet to decide on Mohamed.
Daily Mail
Vocabulary
to hire – szerz?dtet
strict – szigorúkijárási tilalom
blood-splattered – vérrel bemocskolt
lookout – ?rköd?
gruesome – borzalmas
intruder – betolakodó
custody – felügyelet, ?rizet
