The woman accused of killing her girlfriend’s young daughter has a “personality disorder” and will not be giving evidence in her own murder trial, a court has heard.
“Sadistic” Kiki Muddar saw little Ayesha Ali, eight, as a threat to her relationship with Ayesha’s mother Polly Chowdhury, also accused, The Old Bailey was told yesterday.
Muddar, 43, and Chowdhury, 35, are jointly accused of killing Ayesha in August 2013. The girl was found dead in her bedroom having suffered numerous injuries, including a bite mark and carpet burns.
The court has already heard how Muddar invented a cast of fictitious characters on Facebook and in text messages, including “Jimmy Chowdhury” and Muslim spirit guide “Skyman”, which she used to seduce Chowdhury and poison her mind against her daughter.
While Muddar denies being at home in the flat in Broomfield Road, Chadwell Heath, at the time of the killing, Chowdhury blamed her for causing the fatal head injury to Ayesha in a tearful conversation with a prison officer, the court has heard.
Psychiatrist Cleo Van Velsen told jurors yesterday Muddar had a personality disorder and told lies in order to create a new world for herself in which she was the “star”.
The defence witness said: “She has an impaired relationship with reality because she has created an alternative one.
“She is somebody who is not working, alone, and does not have many friends, and suddenly she has created a world where she is a star.
“She tells lots of lies – she tells them to herself which is why they are so convincing. I don’t think she has a grasp of reality.”
Cross-examining, prosecutor Richard Whittam QC asked: “Did she create this fictitious world for comfort or to get into Polly Chowdhury?”
Dr Van Velsen said: “I think Polly Chowdhury was part of it but I don’t think it was just constructed for Polly Chowdhury. She was breaking down in some way and she created this world to make things better.”
She went on to say Muddar had an idea of what a “good person” should be and saw herself as “righteous” so if something bad happened she would immediately deny it.
She agreed there were elements of “sadism and cruelty” in the way Muddar had set chores for Ayesha in the months leading up to the killing – which was a common feature in someone with a narcissistic personality disorder.
Mr Whittam went on: “You concluded Kiki Muddar thought Ayesha was an impediment to her relationship with Polly Chowdhury and she wanted her to be rid of Ayesha – is that an entirely rational thought?”
The witness replied: “It is not, because the relationship with Polly was an entirely unhealthy one. This was a very disturbed, toxic situation and her turning an eight-year-old into a threat to a relationship was not rational.”
Earlier, Muddar’s lawyer Henry Blaxland QC told the jury: “It may come as no surprise to you when I tell you Miss Muddar will not be giving evidence herself. I say that because you already know quite a lot about the somewhat bizarre relationship between her and Polly Chowdhury and quite a lot about her character.
“The majority of the evidence so far has been concerned with the bizarre relationship between Kiki and Polly and the point has been made that Kiki is responsible for poisoning Polly’s mind and turning her against her child. If that is correct – and if so to what extent it is correct – is one of the issues you will have to decide in Polly’s case.
“But it is equally important you will have to consider if Kiki Muddar properly understood the potential consequences of her own actions.
“Did her personality disorder so distort her perception of the world and so dominate her relationships with other people she failed properly at all to understand the effect of her conduct?”
The lawyer said two defence psychiatrists had concluded that Muddar had a personality disorder with “narcissistic and borderline” components.
Mr Blaxland told the jury: “In this case the central issue for you is whether Kiki Muddar did in fact play any part in Ayesha’s death. Our case is that she did not and there is no reliable evidence that she did. And it is only if you find she did, that you have to consider if the verdict should be manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.”
The lawyer said Muddar had told the psychiatrists that the character “Jimmy Chowdhury” was a real person, that she was not responsible for creating “Skyman”, and that she did not have a sexual relationship with Chowdhury.
Despite repeating the assertions in initial defence case papers ahead of the trial, Mr Blaxland said: “You know it is now accepted on her behalf that is not true.”
The court has heard that investigators traced the picture used for the fake Jimmy Facebook profile to a man called Avi Kapoor in India who confirmed he did not know either defendant and had never communicated with them.
Muddar, of Green Lane, Ilford, and Chowdhury, of Broomfield Road, Chadwell Heath, deny murder, manslaughter and causing or allowing the death of a child between March 1 and August 29, 2013.
The trial will resume on Monday.
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