A WOMAN was so viciously beaten by her ex-husband as their son waited for him in a car that a piece of her skull was flapping open exposing her brain, a jury has been told.
And despite the efforts of paramedics who rushed to her home in Valley Road, Lillington, 54-year-old Balvinder ‘Bally’ Gahir died of her injuries.
The jury at Coventry Crown Court heard it is alleged the killing was carried out by Bally’s ex-husband Jasbinder Singh Gahir, who had been driven there by their son Rohan Singh Gahir.
Jasbinder, 58, and Rohan, 23, both of Church View, Maidenhead, pleaded not guilty to Bally’s murder.
Barrister for the prosecution Philip Bradley QC told the jury the incident took place at around 2am on Monday August 24 last year.
He said: “The prosecution case is that Jasbinder entered unannounced and walked upstairs to Bally’s bedroom.
“Once there he subjected her to a sustained and frenzied attack, repeatedly striking her head and body so when the emergency services arrived she was in a pool of her own blood.
“A piece of her skull had become detached so that it flapped, exposing a degree of the inside of her head as the medics battled to save her. But Bally was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Mr Bradley alleged Jasbinder, described as ‘overbearing, manipulative and motivated,’ was directly responsible for killing Bally, having travelled from Maidenhead to do so.
“The car was driven by the second defendant, Rohan Gahir. Although he did not go into the house to participate in the attack, we say he was no less guilty of her murder.
“With shared motivation he encouraged and assisted his father to attack his mother with the intention of ending her life.
“He assisted his father by taking him to Valley Road and by whisking him away when the deed was done.”
Mr Bradley said Bally had married Jasbinder in 1990, and they briefly emigrated to New Zealand where she fell pregnant with their oldest sons, twins who were born in 1995 after they had returned to the UK, with Rohan born two years later.
The house in Valley Road was in their joint names, but the marriage, in which Jasbinder became very controlling, ran into difficulties.
Jasbinder, who worked in IT, spent a lot of time away and held himself out as a Monarch Airways pilot and ex RAF serviceman – neither of which were true.
In 2008 the house was remortgaged to pay for an extension but Jasbinder then bought a property in his sole name in Station Road, Slough, which he rented out.
After Jasbinder moved out Bally ended up in financial difficulty, and a county court judge ordered she would be responsible for the mortgage but that Jasbinder was to transfer his interest in the property to her and to pay her £30,000 – in default of which the Slough property would have to be sold.
In the months and years that followed, Jasbinder did not pay the money, but Bally ‘resisted pulling the trigger and enforcing the court order.’
What was to happen to the house in Valley Road became ‘a hot family topic,’ and pressure was put on Bally to sign an agreement that it should be sold and for Jasbinder to have a share of the proceeds – but she then changed her mind.
Mr Bradley suggested it was the dispute over the property which was behind the killing. The trial continues.
