Murder trial: Man accused of beating his ex-wife to death in her Lillington home

A Leamington woman was viciously beaten to death by her ex-husband as their son waited for him in a car, a jury has been told.

And despite the desperate efforts of paramedics who rushed to her home in Valley Road, Lillington, 54-year-old Balvinder ‘Bally’ Gahir died of her injuries.

The jury at Coventry Crown Court has heard it is alleged the killing was carried out by Bally’s ex-husband Jasbinder Singh Gahir, who had been driven there by their son Rohan Singh Gahir.

Jasbinder (58) and Rohan (23) both of Church View, Maidenhead, have pleaded not guilty to Bally’s murder.

Also on trial are Bally’s lodger at the time Takudzwa Manduna (28) now of Darwin Way, Erith, Kent, and a 16-year-old girl, who cannot be identified because of her age, who have denied doing acts intended to pervert the course of justice.

As the trial began, Judge Andrew Lockhart QC explained that the prosecution’s leading barrister Philip Bradley QC was unusually appearing over a video link from his home where he is self-isolating until the weekend.

Mr Bradley told the jury: “On the evening of Sunday the 23rd of August last year Balvinder Gahir, known to her family and friends as Bally, went to bed at her home address in Valley Road.

“At 2.21 and 20 seconds the next morning CCTV captured a BMW parking within 100 metres of her home. That car was driven by her son Rohan Singh Gahir.

“Its front seat passenger was his father and Bally’s ex-husband Jasbinder Singh Gahir. Both men took turns to get out of the car before returning to it and talking to each-other.

“They remained there for upwards of eight minutes. Then at 2.29.51 Jasbinder left the car again and he did not return until 2.38.46, eight minutes and 55 seconds later.

“Where did he go, and what did he do for just short of nine minutes?” posed Mr Bradley.

“The prosecution case is that Jasbinder entered 278 Valley Road unannounced and walked upstairs to Bally’s bedroom.

“Once there he subjected her to a sustained and frenzied attack, repeatedly striking her head and body so that when the emergency services arrived she was in a pool of her own blood.

Mr Bradley alleged Jasbinder, described as ‘overbearing, manipulative and motivated,’ was directly responsible for killing Bally, having travelled from Maidenhead to do so, asking: “Why else would he beat a defenceless woman so mercilessly?

“The car was driven by the second defendant, Rohan Gahir. Although he did not go into the house to participate in the attack, we say he was no less guilty of her murder.

“With shared motivation he encouraged and assisted his father to attack his mother with the intention of ending her life.

“He assisted his father by taking him to Valley Road and by whisking him away when the deed was done.”

Of the other two defendants, Mr Bradley said that Manduna was lodging at the house in Valley Road at the time and on that night was in his bedroom on the same landing as Bally’s room.

“Neither was responsible for attacking Balvinder Gahir, but both took steps to deliberately deceive the police by claiming that someone other than Jasbinder Gahir was responsible for the attack. Their purpose was to put the police off the scent.”

Of Manduna, Mr Bradley said: “On the evening of the attack he was in his bedroom. We know he heard the attack because he used his phone to call the police.

“The prosecution say the only plausible explanation is that he immediately and properly called the police when he first heard the disturbance, but it is a very brief call.

“You will hear that a melee could be heard in the background, and you may feel this was the point at which he became aware the first defendant was inside the house.”

In a second call at 2.58, 25 minutes after his first call, Manduna told the police the attacker wore a bandana.

“A short while later the police arrived at the house and spoke with him. He told [an officer] the attacker was white, and asked if it was Bally’s husband said no it was definitely not him.

“The prosecution case against Mr Manduna is that these were deliberate lies intended to steer suspicion from Jasbinder, who Mr Manduna must have seen at the time of the attack.”

Mr Bradley said Bally had married Jasbinder in 1990, and they briefly emigrated to New Zealand where she fell pregnant with their oldest sons, twins who were born in 1995 after they had returned to the UK, with Rohan being born two years later.

The house in Valley Road was in their joint names, but the marriage, in which Jasbinder became very controlling, ran into difficulties.

Jasbinder, who worked in information technology, spent a lot of time away and held himself out as a Monarch Airways pilot and ex RAF serviceman – neither of which were true.

In 2008 the house was remortgaged to pay for an extension but Jasbinder then bought a property in his sole name in Station Road, Slough, which he rented out.

After Jasbinder had moved out Bally ended up in financial difficulty, and a County Court judge ordered that she would be responsible for the mortgage but that Jasbinder was to transfer his interest in the property to her and to pay her £30,000 – in default of which the Slough property would have to be sold.

In the months and years that followed, Jasbinder did not pay the money, but Bally ‘resisted pulling the trigger and enforcing the court order.’

What was to happen to the house in Valley Road became ‘a hot family topic,’ and pressure was put on Bally to sign an agreement that it should be sold and for Jasbinder to have a share of the proceeds – but she then changed her mind.

And Mr Bradley suggested it was the dispute over the property which was behind the killing.

The trial continues.