‘Lying witness’ centre of abuse case, judge told
The alleged victim of abuse, torture and confinement at the hands of her husband and his family has lied about how she received her injuries.
That is the harsh truth of it and it cannot be disputed.
But which version of her story was the lie? This is what must now be unravelled by Justice Andrew Goodman as he hears closing submissions in the city’s longest and most complicated domestic violence trial.
Sara Salim spent months through most of 2014 telling anyone who would listen — doctors, social workers, police, friends — that she inflicted injuries upon herself. Including a broken jaw.
“The story does not begin to turn until the relationship with her husband ends … and the child custody battle begins,” defence lawyer Nader Hasan told court Tuesday.
It is only then Sara discloses that she was abused by her husband and his family, Hasan says.
Adeel Safdar, a 38-year-old biochemist, is charged with assault, assault with a weapon, assault bodily harm, threatening death and aggravated assault against Sara, whom he wed in an arranged marriage. He is represented by Dean Paquette. His mother, Shaheen Safdar, 63, faces the same charges. Hasan is her lawyer. His brother, Aatif Safdar, 36, is charged with assault bodily harm, assault with a weapon, assault and threatening death. Aatif is representing himself.
On Monday, in his closing arguments, Paquette said that the Crown and the defendants have “competing narratives” to explain the injuries Sara indisputably suffered. The Safdars say Sara was mentally ill and injured herself, including branding herself with an iron, breaking her jaw and carving death threats against her husband and baby into her own leg. They have said she is lying about being abused in an effort to regain custody of her daughter, who is now four and living with the Safdars. Sara, on the other hand, says she was horribly abused by the Safdars, prevented from caring for her infant and threatened with death or the kidnapping of her baby if she left the house or didn’t do what she was told, including carving threats into her leg. She says she was never mentally ill.
Hasan takes the duelling narratives even further, saying it is not just the Crown and defence theories that differ, but that Sara has told competing versions of her own story over time. And since all of those versions cannot be true, she has lied.
“The Crown’s main witness, Dr. Salim, is a lying witness,” Hasan said.
Assistant Crown attorney Jeff Levy will have his opportunity to present closing arguments too, which will no doubt include a reference to testimony from an expert Crown witness who said some domestic violence victims lie about their injuries — sometimes for years — before disclosing their secret to anyone.
Hasan repeatedly pointed out that Sara is a medical doctor and therefore could not possibly be naive enough — if mentally well — to believe the outrageous threats she alleges Shaheen made toward her. For instance, that Shaheen hired trained killers to wait outside and shoot Sara if she went out unescorted.
One of the most critical pieces of evidence in the trial has been the issue of Sara’s broken jaw. In September 2014, Adeel took Sara to their family doctor, who sent them to the emergency department. Adeel phoned Sara’s parents, who live in the United States, and told them to come and pick up their daughter. He was ending their relationship. In Rochester, N.Y., Sara underwent surgery for her broken jaw. At the time, she maintained she had done this damage to herself. But her stories differed. On some occasions she told doctors she hit herself in the face with her fists. But she also said — as hospital notes indicate — she struck her face on the tub.
Adeel has testified that Sara routinely hit herself in the face and that she broke her jaw in her sleep. He also said he heard a thud from the bathroom and Sara told him she had fallen. A month after her surgery, Sara told a social worker Adeel punched her in the face and broke her jaw.
In late February 2015, Sara reported the abuse to Hamilton police. She arrived at the police station “equipped” with a 30-page narrative and 96 pages of organized exhibits, said Hasan.
During the 10 days she spent on the witness stand when this trial began last September, Sara was caught in lies and inconsistencies, Hasan said. “She would evade or obfuscate or say ‘I don’t remember’ when confronted with a contradiction.”
For instance, she testified that after being an involuntary patient in the psychiatric unit at St. Joseph’s Healthcare, doctors had no concerns about her caring for her infant.
“That is categorically false,” says Hasan.
Documents indicate a doctor and social worker agreed she was not to be left alone with her baby — largely because of the death threats carved into her leg — and they made sure Sara understood that.
When confronted with that contradictory evidence, her answer was, ‘Oh, I don’t remember that,’” Hasan said.
Yet two weeks before giving that evidence, Sara signed an affidavit in family court swearing to that exact issue of being told she could not be alone with her daughter.