Life in jail with hard labour for Scot who killed wife in Pakistan
A SCOTS shopkeeper has been jailed for life after masterminding an elaborate plot to kill his wife.
Abdul Sattar, 49, travelled from Scotland to Pakistan in 2013 for a holiday with his spouse Mumtaz.
But, within hours of arriving, the 38-yearold had been killed and dumped at the roadside. Sattar claimed they had both been given drug-laced tea during the taxi ride from the airport before being attacked and robbed by the driver.
But his ‘wildly concocted’ story quickly unravelled and he and three other men were charged with murder. Now, two years after charges were brought, Sattar – who owned a newsagents in Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire – and his accomplices have been jailed for life.
They were found guilty at the High Court in Lahore, Pakistan, of doping, robbing and murdering Mrs Sattar.
The couple were married for 14 years and had two daughters, but their marriage is said to have been marred by ‘sustained domestic violence’.
On Saturday, the court also fined the men around £5,000 each and ordered that the imprisonment should be accompanied by hard labour.
A statement issued on behalf of Mrs Sattar’s family by their lawyer, Glasgow-based Aamer Anwar, said: ‘Mumtaz Sattar’s family have struggled long and hard for justice following her murder in September 2013.
‘This was a coldly calculated and evil murder perpetrated by Abdul Sattar and three other men. The sole motive appears to have been his greed for money and wish to remarry.
‘He took her to Pakistan with a plan hatched to murder her within hours of their arrival. He hoped by burying her within 12 hours and a wildly concocted story he would cover his tracks and escape to the UK.’
Sattar had claimed the taxi driver who picked them up at Lahore airport had taken the back roads through ‘bandit country’ instead of the secure motorway.
He said that after a couple of hours, the man stopped near Sattar’s home town of Shahkot to get the couple tea. After drinking this, Sattar claimed they both lost consciousness and they were thrown from the moving car.
A post-mortem examination found that Mrs Sattar suffered injuries consistent with ‘forceful squeezing of the neck – ie throttling’.
Sattar’s story quickly came under suspicion when he refused to have his injuries photographed by police at the hospital, saying it could cause ‘a problem’ if his picture appeared in the media.
He then insisted on having his wife buried within 14 hours. A suspicious family member took photographs of ‘scratches’ on Sattar’s neck at the funeral.
Mrs Sattar’s family in Scotland then contacted Mr Anwar and approaches were made to the Pakistan government, Police Scotland, Punjab police, the First Minister and the Lord Advocate to seek assistance.
Evidence of domestic violence was provided to Police Scotland by family members.
In October 2013, lawyers in Pakistan lodged papers with the High Court in Lahore naming Abdul Sattar as a murder suspect. He was detained and eventually formally charged in 2015.
Mr Anwar’s statement added: ‘Sattar regularly subjected Mumtaz to beatings and emotional abuse when married to her and tragically she leaves behind two young daughters who will always cherish their mother’s love.’
The lawyer added that he had travelled to the Punjab in December 2013 and watched ‘the swagger of a smiling killer Abdul Sattar as he was brought to court in chains’.
The statement went on: ‘Mumtaz’s family believe that she will now be in peace and that they can finally grieve for her loss as they have justice.’
‘Swagger of a smiling killer’