Gravesend father murdered adopted two-year-old by ‘bashing her head against wall’, court hears

A father has been found guilty of murdering his two-year-old adopted daughter who died after he “bashed her head against a wall”.

Jan Gholami and his wife Roqia Ghulami have been on trial for the murder of Zahra Ghulami at their Gravesend home in May 2020.

During the nine-week trial, prosecutor Sally Howes KC said Zahra suffered a skull fracture caused by “significant impact with significant energy” at the hands of Gholami.

The girl was taken to hospital on May 27 2020 and died two days later.

Ms Howes accused the father-of-four of taking out his “bad temper” on her and bashing her head against a wall.

At Maidstone Crown Court, jurors convicted Gholami of murder in a majority verdict of 10 to two after deliberating for nearly 20 hours.

Ghulami, 32, was cleared of murder but found guilty of cruelty of a person under 16 in a unanimous verdict.

Gholami was also found guilty unanimously of child cruelty.

Former farmer Gholami, originally from Afghanistan, told jurors he went to Tesco that morning and when he got home his son said Zahra had fallen down the stairs and was vomiting.

The 33-year-old denied hurting his children, saying he loved them.

The shop worker previously said: “If I would do such things I wouldn’t come to this country. There was a lot of violence in Afghanistan already.

“The reason I came to this country was for the welfare of my children.”

Ghulami did not give evidence in court but told police Zahra fell down the stairs.

The girl’s cause of death was given as severe head injury and skull fracture by Professor Charles Mangham, an osteoarticular pathologist.

Jurors were told Gholami came to the UK in January 2016 while Ghulami was still in Afghanistan with their children.

The couple adopted Zahra in 2017 after Gholami’s friend, Zahra’s father, felt unable to look after her after his wife died in childbirth.

This happened when Ghulami was in Afghanistan and the adoption was approved by village elders.

In January 2019, Gholami applied for asylum for Ghulami from the UK, and she arrived with the children to join him.

Zahra was described as a “bright, intelligent” child who was “highly curious” and wanted to find out about everything.

The court also heard evidence of alleged domestic abuse by Gholami against Ghulami, with a neighbour claiming she saw Gholami punch Ghulami in the face outside their home.

Gholami denied hurting his wife.

But jurors also heard how Ghulami told a police officer and social worker that he beat her, sometimes by slapping her or banging her head against a wall, and she was scared he would kill her.

Gholami also denied allegations of older injuries before Zahra’s death, including that he banged her head against the wall and fractured her skull on an earlier occasion.

Prosecutor Ms Howes said: “Because this is what you do.

“You bang people’s heads against walls.

“Because you’ve done this before and Zahra had survived, you just walked away and went to Tesco.”

Gholami and Ghulami, of Oak Road, Gravesend, denied murder, causing or allowing the death of a child and child cruelty.

Judge Mr Justice Wall will sentence Gholami on February 16, and Ghulami at a date to be decided.

After the conviction, Kent Police’s senior investigating officer Detective Inspector Ross Gurden thanked the jury for securing justice in the case.

The detective said: “Zahra had her life taken away from her by two people who had a responsibility to love and care for her.

“Jan inflicted the injuries on Zahra whilst Roqia was completely aware of his behaviour and failed to intervene and prevent Zahra from being injured.

“Zahra would have been six now, she would have started school and would be learning about the world around her, but instead her young life was cut short through violence inflicted by Jan, who should have been caring for her.”

After the conviction, Kent Police’s senior investigating officer Detective Inspector Ross Gurden thanked the jury for securing justice in the case. The detective said: “Zahra had her life taken away from her by two people who had a responsibility to love and care for her. “Jan inflicted the injuries on Zahra whilst Roqia was completely aware of his behaviour and failed to intervene and prevent Zahra from being injured. “Zahra would have been six now, she would have started school and would be learning about the world around her, but instead her young life was cut short through violence inflicted by Jan, who should have been caring for her.”

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