Nusayba Umar was killed when she was just 16 months old
(Picture: Metropolitan Police)An unlicensed dog breeder has been found guilty of murdering his girlfriend’s 16-month-old daughter.
Kamran Haider, 39, attacked Nusayba Umar, causing catastrophic brain injuries, in September 2019. The toddler died in hospital four days later.
Haider, from Ilford, had a history of violence and had previously attacked a former girlfriend and abused her children to “teach them a lesson”, the Old Bailey was told.
The court heard that Haider had met the child’s mother Asamah Amazir on a dating website and she had effectively moved in to his house to help with his dog breeding business.
At first, Mrs Amazir had no real concerns about Haider’s behaviour – which could be “snappy” and “verbally aggressive”.
But a fortnight before the fatal attack, Nusayba allegedly suffered a separate head injury while in Haider’s care. He told Mrs Amazir that the toddler had fallen over in the kitchen while he was in the garden feeding his dogs.
Prosecutor Edward Brown QC said that Haider had also hit the toddler on the hand during “time out” and made her adopt various “stress positions”. If Mrs Amazir tried to intervene, he would slap her, jurors were told.
On the day of Nusayba’s death on September 13 2019, the court was told how Mrs Amazir had heard her daughter crying as she went out to tend to the dogs.
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.
At around 5pm, Nusayba began having a fit and Haider suggested to Mrs Amazir that she take the youngster to her home to “relax”, jurors heard.
Mrs 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 but later died while in intensive care.
Mr Brown told jurors that the toddler could have died either from “a severe blow to the head” or “a severe shaking”.
He suggested that on Mrs Amazir’s account, the defendant had carried out a short-lived but devastating assault “possibly in a fit of temper or even as some sort of punishment”.
In a victim impact statement, Mrs Amazir said: "Nusayba was subjected to the most horrible experiences at the hands of this man towards the end of her life.
“I will never forget the events that led to her death for as long as I live. I vividly remember the things she suffered and that noise she made on the last day of her life will haunt me forever.
"There are also the other more obvious effects of this awful crime committed against my daughter. Things like I will never get to see her grow up, hear her first full sentence, see her first day at school, her first tooth loss, her first proper tantrum and all of the other beautiful milestones that a mother witnesses throughout her children's lives.”
Haider will be sentenced on Wednesday.
