Jury shown police interview of TikTok star on trial for murder after Leicestershire A46 crash
The jury in the trial of a TikTok star and seven others has been shown a video of the influencer's police interview, which the prosecutor described as a "pack of lies".
Social media sensation Mahek Bukhari, 23, and her mother Ansreen Bukhari, 45, both of George Eardley Close in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, have gone on trial after being accused of playing a part in a car crash on the A46 in Leicestershire in February, in which two men died.
Saqib Hussain and Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin, both 21, and from Banbury, Oxfordshire, died when their Skoda crashed into a tree where it was “virtually split in two” before catching fire just after midnight on 11 February 2022.
In the TikTok star's interview with Leicestershire Police she said she knew Saqib Hussain who died in the Skoda, and had met him once before.
She said she gave him her number because she thought he was a "very nice guy" but later told him they should just be friends.
The star with more than 120,000 followers on TikTok, claimed Mr Hussain then began harassing her on social media.
She said he posted her phone number and email address online, made fake pictures of her and then owned up to it afterwards.
She said: "This person was harassing me, bullying me.
"I've met him once in my life. I exchanged numbers. I thought he was a very nice guy. At the end of the day, I said we could be friends.
"This person has been making fake images of me. He always used to admit - 'This was me, you don't reply to my messages'.
"I said, 'If I don't want to talk to you, you can't make me'. He makes fake pictures of me and my mum. She's always out with me - she's like my best friend to me."
Mr Hussain is believed to have had a three-year extra-marital affair with the star's mother, which the star did not mention.
The 23-year-old said she was in contact with Mr Hussain on the night he died after he sent her a message telling her he knew she was in Leicester due to a post she had put online.
She claimed she had replied: "Please can you leave me alone. I'm going home."
Ms Bukhari claims Mr Hussain then said: "Your dad's at home, your brother's at home. I'm going to kill them."
After that, the star claims she tried to arrange to see him in a Tesco car park but he didn't show up.
Leicester Crown Court had already heard how Bukhari's Audi TT, her co-defendant's blue Seat Leon and the silver Skoda were close together shortly before the fatal collision that killed the Skoda's occupants.
The star claimed she had been travelling from Stoke to Nottingham with her mum when diversions took her to Leicester and she was overtaken by a blue Seat Leon.
In her version of the events, the "silver car" rammed the Seat Leon after it forced its way in between the cars and was "harassing" and "agitating" the blue car.
She said: "It cut into the middle so all three cars were really close. My mum said, 'Just keep your distance'. I kept my distance.
"This car was not threatening me but agitating the blue car. It was just harassing and this silver car was not letting the blue car go.
"I went past and got further away and then the blue car caught up with me. All I heard was a bang when the silver car hit the blue car.
"I said to my mum, 'What's going on? Are they drunk? What are they trying to do to this blue car?'
"All I saw was the silver car swerve to the other side where the metal bits are."
She said she had not realised the silver car had been in a serious crash until she and her mother decided to return to their home [in Stoke] and passed the flaming wreck.
The star said: "The navigation brought us back onto the same dual carriageway. All I saw was flames. I just started bursting out in tears."
She later said it never occurred to her Mr Hussain was in the silver car and was "confused" when she found out he was.
Leicestershire Police had interviewed Ms Bukhari nine times in total. She answered their questions in the first six interviews but only gave 'no comment' responses in the final three.
The eight defendants, who all deny murder and an alternative count of manslaughter, are:
Natasha Akhtar, (aged 22), of Alum Rock Road, Birmingham
Ansreen Bukhari, (45), of George Eardley Close, Stoke
Mahek Bukhari, (23), of George Eardley Close, Stoke
Raees Jamal, (22), of Lingdale Close, Loughborough
Rekan Karwan, (28), of Tomlin Road, Leicester
Mohammed Patel, (20), of Braybrooke Road, Leicester
Sanaf Gulammustafa, (22), of Littlemore Close, Crown Hills, Leicester
Ammeer Jamal, (27), of Catherine Street, Belgrave, Leicester