An unlicensed dog breeder has been jailed for life after shaking a 16-month-old old girl to death just weeks after meeting her mother on a dating website.
Kamran Haider, 39, attacked Nusayba Umar on 13 September 2019, causing catastrophic brain injuries.
The toddler suffered a fit and was taken to hospital where she died four days later after intensive care support was withdrawn.
Haider, who had a history of violence, denied any physical contact, let alone an assault, but was found guilty of murder and child neglect by a jury at the Old Bailey on Monday.
He refused to attend his sentencing at the same court, where he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 20 years on Wednesday.
During the trial, Edward Brown QC said Nusayba’s death was caused by “violent shaking” and impact at Haider’s home in Ilford, east London.
The toddler’s mother, Asiyah Amazir, revealed she heard Haider say “shut up, Nusayba” followed by a slapping sound on the day she died.
In a victim impact statement, she said she would be forever haunted by her daughter’s death and the noise she heard that day.
Nusayba’s father added: “This one event has ripped my life apart and I will never recover. When I go to bed at night, I wonder what I could have done differently to have avoided this.”
Haider lived with his mother in a four-bedroom house in Ilford, northeast London.
Ms Amazir, from Newham, east London, met him through a dating website in August 2019 and effectively moved in to help with his dog breeding business, jurors heard.
At first, Ms Amazir had no real concerns about Haider’s behaviour – which could be “snappy” and “verbally aggressive”, the court heard.
Just over a fortnight before the fatal attack, Nusayba allegedly suffered a separate head injury while in the care of the defendant.
Haider told Ms Amazir Nusayba had fallen over in the kitchen while he was in the garden feeding his dogs.
He went on to become increasingly threatening towards mother and child, it was alleged.
He put Nusayba in a corner, hit her on the hand during “time out”, and made her adopt various “stress positions”, Mr Brown said.
If Ms Amazir tried to intervene, he would slap her, jurors were told.
The court also heard how Haider allegedly attacked a former girlfriend and abused her children to “teach them a lesson”.
On the day of Haider’s killer attack, Ms Amazir got up to tend to the dogs when she heard Nusayba crying, jurors heard.
As she went towards her room, she allegedly heard the defendant say “shut up, Nusayba” and a slapping sound.
She heard Nusayba “yelp” in response, jurors were told.
Afterwards, the girl did not seem herself, though there was no outward sign of injury, the court heard.
At around 5pm, Nusayba began having a fit and Haider suggested to Ms Amazir that she take the youngster to her home to “relax”, jurors heard.
Ms Amazir left and called an ambulance from the bus stop at the end of the road.
She told the operator her daughter started having a fit on a bus, only later disclosing she was scared of Haider, the court was told.
When paramedics arrived, it was clear Nusayba was “gravely ill” and she taken to hospital.
Her condition did not improve and, on 17 September 2019, intensive care support was withdrawn and she died.
Additional reporting by Press Association
