Deaf woman killed after night out with strangers

"Opening the trial, prosecutor Henrietta Paget KC said the case involved a "senseless killing of a vulnerable young woman". Owusu, nicknamed Nasty, from Dagenham, denies murder and the alternative charge of manslaughter. "This was a callous attack," Paget told jurors. "The attitude Mr Owusu displayed towards his victim was one of utter contempt, as his subsequent actions and words make clear.""

"Mukhtar was described as a "bright, bubbly, enthusiastic" woman who worked as a finance assistant at the Young Vic Theatre in Waterloo. She had been profoundly deaf since contracting meningitis at the age of three, but coped well by lip reading and using British Sign Language, the court was told. Owusu, 36, had been at a rave in Hackney with some acquaintances from Dagenham before Mukhtar, who had been out alone, encountered the group "by chance" outside The Pubb in Stoke Newington."

Zahwa Mukhtar, 27, was killed after being thrown from a car and assaulted following a night out. She was profoundly deaf, used lip reading and British Sign Language, and worked as a finance assistant at the Young Vic Theatre. She encountered a group outside The Pubb, was given laughing gas and joined them in a Mercedes. The group had been drinking and taking drugs. When Mukhtar began recording, Duane Owusu opened the rear door, threw her phone out, pushed her from the car on Chadwell Heath Lane, then kicked and punched her. Owusu denies murder and the alternative charge of manslaughter.

Read at www.bbc.com