An 11-year-old girl who dreamed of becoming a lawyer died after being punched in the head by her older brother in a fit of rage – and the family then tried to cover it up, a coroner has ruled.
Falaq Babar was described as the ‘princess of her family’. She was bathing another of her siblings in the bathroom of the family’s home on Bury Road in Rochdale in February, 2022.
The youngster was then subjected to an ‘unprovoked, indefensible punch’ by her brother, 23-year-old Suhail Mohammed. Just 21 minutes after an ambulance was called, he sent text messages to his girlfriend saying he had ‘killed’ his little sister.
In the message, he wrote he had ‘punched her on the head’. Falaq died in hospital a month later.
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In the texts, Mr Mohammed said she was ‘screaming her head off’ and ‘it was the heat of the moment’. Senior coroner, Joanne Kearsley, said she found ‘as a matter of fact’ that Falaq was subject to an ‘unprovoked, indefensible punch’, but due to the evidence heard at the inquest, she would not be reporting the case back to Greater Manchester Police or the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Falaq, Ms Kearsley found, had an ‘underlying, unknown malformation in the brain’ described as extremely rare.
Giving evidence, Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Round said he felt there was ‘sufficient evidence’ to consult the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to Falaq’s death, referencing a possible charge of manslaughter. But, he said, the CPS ruled there was ‘no case’, a situation he said he believed concerned the ‘complexities’ of the medical evidence.
The coroner said in her ruling on Friday: “Tragically, whilst not intending the punch to cause harm, this punch was likely to have been the cause of Falaq immediately becoming unwell and struggling to walk.
“I am satisfied that on balance this would have led to her being anxious, she was complaining of pain, indicating she felt like she was dying and had to be assisted downstairs. This anxiety and likely increase in her blood pressure would have been the cause of the rupture to her underlying unknown malformation in her brain.
“I therefore find on the balance of probabilities that Falaq was unlawfully killed.”
Mr Mohammed was arrested after the death, with an investigation launched into a ‘suspected assault’, but the inquest heard the CPS ruled no further action would be taken after a file of evidence was presented to them.
The inquest heard he was re-interviewed by Greater Manchester Police when the text messages were found, but refused to answer any questions.
Mr Mohammed, the court heard, told police he used ‘quite a bit of force’ on the door to open it and described ‘barging’ it with his ‘shoulder and elbow’ before finding Falaq ‘on the floor’ near the radiator.
He said he was pushing the door from the outside, and Falaq was pulling it from the inside, after he heard ‘bickering’ with a younger brother who wanted to get inside. Falaq was inside bathing one of the siblings at the time.
Ms Kearsley said ‘at no stage’ were paramedics at the scene told Falaq may have been punched.
The inquest heard Falaq’s parents did not give their consent for Greater Manchester Police to interview the other children present. Mr Mohammed’s girlfriend also refused to co-operate with the police.
The coroner said it was ‘difficult to understand’ why the family ‘have been so reluctant to at least explore with GMP the possibility of speaking to the younger siblings’.
She said she found that evidence given ‘from all the family members’ was an ‘attempt to disguise or cover-up’ the fact her brother punched her.
Ms Kearsley said: “The evidence from all of the family members was inherently improbable, inconsistent and unconvincing. I am satisfied that the accounts given were exculpatory in nature and untrue. They were made in an attempt to disguise or cover up the fact that Falaq’s elder sibling hit her in a fit of pique.”
She said it was ‘likely’ Falaq and the sibling who wanted to get into the bathroom were bickering and Mr Mohammed became ‘frustrated’ by the noise. He ‘shoulder charged’ the door with ‘significant force’ and gave no warning to Falaq.
Ms Kearsley said in her ruling: “I find he [Mr Mohammed] acted in the heat of the moment and likely with a degree of frustration.
“Having shoulder charged the door I find on the balance of probabilities he has then punched Falaq on the head. This is wholly consistent with the contemporaneous evidence, in particular with the text messages sent by Suhail to his girlfriend and comments about him punching Falaq. Whether Falaq additionally hit her head on the door or the wall cannot be determined from the evidence.
“I must stress there is absolutely no evidence before the court that the act of Falaq’s older sibling was in any way done with any intent to kill her or cause serious bodily harm. This is not murder.”
She said she found Mr Mohammed acted ‘likely through frustration and irritation at the noise’.
“This was an unlawful act and amounted to an unreasonable and excessive use of force,” Ms Kearsley added.
The inquest into Falaq’s death was dramatically halted last year after potential new evidence came to light.
Ms Kearsley said ‘it became evident’ that family members – namely Mr Mohammed and Falaq’s grandmother, Zabida Bibi – could be heard on the 999 call ‘speaking amongst themselves’. The recording was enhanced and specialist translators were brought in.
The coroner said Mrs Bibi was heard to say ‘hit with a punch/assault?’ or ‘who has hit her?’
Mr Mohammed was also heard to say ‘we pray to God and don’t make a big deal as it is early in the morning’ or ‘not to be announced (we don’t disclose) in the morning’, added her ruling.
Dr Daniel Du Plessis, a consultant neuropathologist, said at the resumed inquest it was a ‘complicated case’ and Falaq suffered a bleed inside her brain.
Surgeons operated, he said, but ‘major damage’ had already occurred. He said a subsequent bleed in a ‘small but vital’ blood vessel Falaq suffered was ‘very uncommon’ and ‘vanishingly rare’.
He presented three possible scenarios: trauma caused a healthy blood vessel to rupture; trauma caused a weakened blood vessel to rupture – weakened by an underlying issue – and a rise in blood pressure caused it to rupture.
“I cannot separate those out,” he said, adding that a pre-existing, naturally-occurring lesion ‘nudges ahead’ of other causes.
Ms Kearsely said: “On balance it is likely that Falaq had an unknown pre-existing abnormality, namely an arterial venous malformation in the posterior inferior cerebellar artery. This is an extremely rare condition. This could not have been known to Falaq and her family.
“As a result of the trauma inflicted on Falaq she is likely to have experienced anxiety and increased blood pressure and this directly led to a rupture of the blood vessel leading to the bleed within her brain.”
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