DEATH AT THE ALLOTMENT Widow strangled with lawnmower cable, court told

WARY: Murder victim Lea Adri-Soejoko AN elderly widow strangled on an allotment with a lawnmower cord had been “wary” of her alleged killer, a court has heard.

Lea Adri-Soejoko, 80, had a “notorious” run-in with Rahim Mohammadi who had a reputation among other growers for being “threatening” and “volatile” just months before he allegedly beat and throttled her to stop her reporting him and losing his plot. others have found frightening. There was one notorious occasion at an Allotment Association meeting... when, having been told by her to ‘shut up’, he responded with a display of verbal aggression directed towards Mrs Adri-Soejoko, which shocked others and distressed her.

“We know from what others later observed of her...that she was affected by it and, as has been said by some who knew her, was ‘wary’ of him.”

Mr Price said that there had been a “fraught atmosphere” on the allotment but outbursts by the defendant had been “overlooked” in the past.

However, he would have known a serious physical assault upon Mrs Adri-Soejoko would not have been tolerated by allotment users, jurors heard.

Mr Price said: “As he pondered what he had just done to her, Rahim Mohammadi will have feared that he would never again be allowed to return to the allotment and much else besides. And so he killed her.”

The defendant denies murder and the trial continues.