Man beat partner and may have slept while she died on floor by bed, court told

Raj Sidpara, 50, admitted the manslaughter of his partner Tarnjeet Riaz, also known as Tarnjeet Chagger, in October but denies murdering her in the early hours of May 6 after a night out.

Prosecution barrister Steven Bailey told the jury at Leicester Crown Court on Wednesday that Sidpara caused 20 rib fractures and a brain injury to the 44-year-old in his property in Tarbat Road, Thurnby Lodge, Leicester.

Mr Bailey said: “This case is about a man who lost his temper with his partner at the end of a night out, and who beat and kicked and stamped her to death in a confined space in his bedroom.

“The injuries that he inflicted on her, and which he admits he inflicted on her, included extensive bruising to her face, to her head, to her chest, and elsewhere on her body.

“The bruising was the visible surface injuries, beneath which were found other injuries including 20 rib fractures – some ribs had multiple fractures – and bleeding on her brain.”

He added that the cause of death was a combination of injuries to Ms Riaz’s head and chest.

Mr Bailey told the jury that Sidpara caused his partner’s lip “not just to be split but to be torn away from the jaw”.

He said: “The prosecution say that these injuries, or at least some of them, were inflicted with great force, with intensity.

“Many or most of them, the prosecution say, he is likely to have inflicted once, or while she was unconscious, or at least helpless, since the neighbours did not hear her crying out in help.

“Once he inflicted those injuries, he might even have gone to sleep while she died on the floor by the side of his bed.

“The exact time of her death is unclear. It is certain that he killed her.”

The court heard that Ms Riaz was a regular visitor to Sidpara’s home since their relationship began a few months before.

The jury were told that on May 6 at 1.15pm, Sidpara rang 999 and told the call handler that his partner had fallen over after they had been drinking at a bar which caused her to suffer injuries and bleed.

He told the ambulance service he thought she had fallen asleep in the living room the previous night, that he got no response when he first woke up in the morning and called out to her, and then when he woke up a second time, he found her on the floor by his bed “already cold”, Mr Bailey said.

The barrister told the court that Sidpara gave his partner CPR, but “that resuscitation failed” and the jury “might conclude it failed because she had been dead for some time already”.

“The CPR could never have succeeded because by the time Mr Sidpara called 999, she was already cold and stiff and, for instance, with her jaw locked shut”, he added.

The prosecutor said the couple were “heavy drinkers” but that CCTV footage from the bar they visited before Ms Riaz’s death showed Sidpara was “far less drunk and out of control” than his partner and was able to drive himself home “without difficulty”.

He added that the defendant may have been “angry” and “lost his temper” with Ms Riaz that evening, which caused him to attack her.

Ms Riaz’s family said in a statement released by police after her death that she was a “bubbly, caring and funny” person who “radiated nothing but happiness”.

Sidpara, previously of Tarbat Road, wore a black suit and white shirt in the dock as the prosecutor opened the case in front of Judge William Harbage KC.

Sarah Vine KC, defending Sidpara, asked the jury to consider whether the defendant was “so affected by his alcohol dependency” that it caused him to behave in the way he did when he killed her.

The trial continues.