On August 27, 2018, soon after midnight, 22-year-old Raneem Oudeh was murdered outside her mother’s house in Solihull, West Midlands.
She was murdered alongside her 49-year-old mother Khowla Saleem by her then-21-year-old ex-partner Janbaz Tarin, who the jury was told had once carved her name into his arm with a razor.
On her wedding day, he allegedly threatened her, “In our culture, divorce is not permitted… the day you leave, I will murder you.”
At the resumption of the inquests into the deaths of the two women at Birmingham and Solihull Coroner’s Court today, Nour Norris, Ms. Oudeh’s aunt, testified regarding the relationship between Ms. Oudeh and Tarin.
Senior coroner Louise Hunt also informed the jury that they will hear evidence of West Midlands Police’s response to Ms. Oudeh’s numerous phone calls to the force about her abusive partner before to her death.
In her testimony, Ms. Norris described how Raneem left the Syrian civil conflict in 2014 to join her mother and family in the United Kingdom.
She stated that her ‘ambitious’ niece registered at Solihull College after arrival.
In her English study group, she met classmate Tarin for the first time.
Ms. Norris reported how Tarin would buy her gifts and perform acts of kindness.
She claimed, “At first, she thought it was just a friendship, but that evolved into stalking and harassment.”
She was required to report him to the college so he would leave her alone. He was expelled (from the university).
Ms. Norris revealed through her relatives that Ms. Oudeh “met a guy” whom she later married and became pregnant with her child.
However, the connection terminated prior to the birth, and she gave birth “by herself.”
Ms. Norris stated, “She felt quite helpless.”
By the summer of 2016, Ms. Oudeh was ‘sad, unhappy, and a 20-year-old single mother’ who was still being’stalked’ by Tarin, according to Ms. Norris.
After her niece moved into a Kingshurst Road, Solihull, apartment, Tarin “slowly, gradually” persuaded Ms. Oudeh to renew their relationship.
She asserted that Tarin informed her niece, “This time, you are mine”
On April 2, 2017, Tarin and Ms. Oudeh were married in an Islamic ceremony, but according to Ms. Norris, the extended family knew something was off.
Ms. Oudeh appeared ‘disturbed’ when she told her aunt about a statement Tarin made to his new wife as they signed the marriage license.
Ms. Norris stated, “He turned to her and murmured, ‘In our culture, there is no divorce; now you are my wife, and the day you leave, I will kill you.’”
After the wedding, Ms. Norris stated, “He (Tarin) became quite domineering and obsessed, regarding her as his property.”
She continued, “He wanted her to dress and speak in a particular manner and to share the bedroom in a particular manner.”
After Tarin traveled to Afghanistan at the end of 2017, it was discovered that he had a second wife and three children, with a fourth on the way. This caused the marriage to deteriorate once more.
Ms. Oudeh told him in January 2018 that the relationship was over, but he began stalking her again and ‘would sleep in the car outside her house for days,’ according to Ms. Norris.
On one occasion, he sent Ms. Norris a Facebook photo of his left arm on which he had carved Raneem’s name with a razor.
Ms. Oudeh momentarily reconciled with Tarin, but by April 2018 she wanted him gone for good, at which point ‘things really worsened’
Ms. Norris asserted that her niece attempted to be straight with Tarin since her repeated calls to police were met with little action and visits from social workers left her “terrified” that they would remove her child.
She claimed, “She had previously phoned the police several times, but they didn’t listen to her correctly, didn’t take her seriously, or they blamed her.”
They will tell her, “You’re wasting our time; you need to deal with him yourself and evict him; you can’t phone us constantly.” Request that he move out.
Ms. Norris further described how Ms. Oudeh was “worried about her infant” and the engagement of social services.
Ms. Norris asserted, “She wanted to cooperate with social services but was afraid that if she told them everything, they would take her child away.”
Ms. Oudeh filed for a non-molestation order in August 2018, but Tarin accompanied Ms. Saleem and Ms. Oudeh to the Rotana Shisha Lounge on August 26.
Tarin’slapped’ her in the restaurant before following them out.
Ms. Hunt told the jury, “The police were summoned, but their response was delayed owing to an incident involving firearms.”
Just after midnight, Janbaz Tarin murdered Raneem and Khowla in front of her residence.
Subsequently, he was convicted of both murders.
The coroner informed the jury that they would review seven batches of phone calls Ms. Oudeh made to police between April and August 2018 in order to determine “how police and other agencies responded.”