Briton Ammaz Qureshi 'Watched as Mother Drowned Baby During Skype Conversation'
A British man has appeared in court in Norway accused of murder after telling a mother to drown her one-year-old baby during a Skype conversation.
Ammaz Qureshi, 35, is alleged to have told 28-year-old Yasmin Chaudhry to kill her baby daughter by drowning her in a bucket of water after the child interrupted their online conversation.
The pair have both appeared in court in Oslo charged with premeditated murder and assault.
Qureshi, who is not the girl's father and was married to another woman at the time of the alleged murder, began an affair with Chaudhry after they met in February 2010.
The pair began talking to each other over Skype after she returned to Norway two months later. The prosecution claim during their online conversations Qureshi encouraged Chaudhry to abuse her child by forcing her to eat chili powder and binding her arms with rope.
In October 2010, it is alleged Qureshi told Chaudhry to hold the baby's head in a bucket of water to "discipline" her after she began crying while they were talking.
Qureshi is then said to have watched on his computer as the baby lost consciousness twice after being submerged in the water. Chaudhry called the emergency services and claimed the child fell in accidentally, but she died in hospital the next day.
Prosecutor Cecilie Schlosser Moller told Oslo District Court: "She was subjected to physical violence during disciplining. In the end, it went too far and she died. By submerging the girl in the bucket, they would have anticipated her death. She was a small, defenceless girl who was subjected to extensive abuse."
The pair both deny murder, but Chaudhry has admitted to child abuse charges.
Qureshi's lawyer Vibeke Hein Baera told the court: "He denies the accusations of premeditated murder and assault.
"My client is baffled that he is accused of a crime committed in a country which he - at that point in time - had never set foot in."
The trial continues.
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