Sisters Sentenced For Honour Attack

Two Muslim sisters who hacked their younger sibling's hair off in an honour attack as a punishment for her kissing a white boy have both been given a 12-month conditional discharge.

Shamima Akhtar, 18, was seen by her sisters Nadiya, 25, and Nazira, 29, and brother Kayum Mohammed-Abdul, 24, kissing Gary Pain outside a pub in Basingstoke, Hampshire, on a night out.

Mohammed-Abdul assaulted Mr Pain and then the trio took the teenager home, verbally abused her and the sisters cut off her waist length hair to her shoulders.

A jury at Winchester Crown Court found the sisters guilty of actual bodily harm and the brother was found guilty of assaulting Mr Pain by beating, after a three-week trial. He was also given a 12-month conditional discharge.

The three were acquitted of false imprisonment and Nadiya and Nazira were found not guilty of assaulting their sister.

Judge Guy Boney QC told the three the case was wholly exceptional and they had been misguided in their attempts to protect their younger sister, who he described as ''strong minded'' and ''far from easy to handle''.

He told them he would treat them in a lenient fashion and added the two sisters must pay £500 each towards prosecution costs and the student brother £250.

The jury was told that the incident had torn the family, from Basingstoke, apart, with Miss Akhtar having nothing to do with her sisters or parents since the attack on April 1 last year.

She now lives with Mr Pain.

The judge said he hoped the rift between the family could be healed.

The trial heard a car driven by Mohammed-Abdul ''screeched'' to a halt by the pub just after Miss Akhtar had kissed Mr Pain.

An ''extremely aggressive and threatening'' Mohammed-Abdul then assaulted Mr Pain as Miss Akhtar got in to the car.

Miss Akhtar came from a strict Islamic family and was controlled by her siblings, but she considered herself westernised, the court heard.

Miss Akhtar called the police the next day and the siblings were arrested.

When arrested shop assistant Nazira Akhtar told officers her parents where away and she was responsible for the family.

She admitted she had repeatedly called her sister to check on her welfare and she told officers ''she was upset when she turned up and she saw Shamima kissing a white man,'' Mr Peter Asteris, prosecuting, said.

The three were cleared of kidnap and Mohammed-Abdul of actual bodily harm towards Miss Akhtar on the orders of the judge earlier in the trial.

All three had denied all the charges.