"27-Year-Old Deaf Woman 'Dumped from Car and Abandoned on London Street by Killer Known as Nasty'"

A DEAF young woman was left to die in the street after allegedly being thrown out of a car and punched in the neck, a court heard.

Duane Owusu, nicknamed Nasty, is accused of fatally attacking 27-year-old Zahwa Mukhtar on a quiet street last .

Flowers left at the scene where Zahwa Mukhtar, 27, was found fatally killedCredit: PA Zahwa Mukhtar died after suffering a fractured skull and a brain injuryCredit: PA

The attack happened in east in the early hours of Saturday August 16 last year, the Old Bailey was told.

Zahwa was found unresponsive at 5.31am.

Despite the efforts of and paramedics at the scene, she was pronounced dead at 6.21am.

Opening Owusu’s murder trial yesterday, Henrietta Paget KC, prosecuting, said it was a “senseless killing of a vulnerable young woman”.

She told jurors: “This was a callous attack.

“The attitude Mr Owusu displayed towards his victim was one of utter contempt, as his subsequent actions and words make clear.”

The victim was was described as a “bright, bubbly, enthusiastic” woman.

She had aspired to become an accountant and worked as a finance assistant at the Young Vic Theatre in Waterloo.

Zahwa was profoundly deaf, having lost her hearing after contracting at the age of three.

Though she coped well and was adept at lip-reading and used British sign language, jurors were told.

On the evening before the fatal attack, Owusu, 36, had gone to a rave in Hackney with a group of people he knew from Dagenham.

Ms Mukhtar had been out by herself and come across the group “by chance” outside The Pubb, near her home, in Stoke Newington.

The victim was said to have been running up and down the road and was given some laughing that Owusu’s group had already consumed.

When the defendant and his group left, Zahwa joined them in the .

The court heard that with seven people in the car, Zahwa sat on the defendant’s lap on the journey back towards Dagenham.

The prosecutor said: “You will hear evidence that she was behaving erratically within the car, flirting with the boys and picking fights with the girls.

“Nobody knew her, and it appears that her behaviour was causing increasing annoyance.”

She added that the victim began recording a video on her phone which triggered the defendant to ask the driver to stop, before then attacking her.

Ms Paget said: “Opening the rear door, he threw out Ms Mukhtar’s phone and then ejected her bodily from the car, so that she landed on her backside on the pavement.

“Getting out after her, he aimed two kicks at her face as she sat on the ground.

“One of the female members of the group got out to try to stop the attack, but he swung her aside.

“Ms Mukhtar by this stage had managed to get to her feet and was pleading with Mr Owusu to stop, but he punched her, hard, to the neck, knocking her to the ground where she lay motionless.”

Zahwa suffered a fractured skull and fatal brain injury.

Everybody piled back into the Mercedes and it drove off – leaving Zahwa on the pavement suffering form her injuries.

In graphic CCTV footage, a voice could be heard shouting: “Get in the car now.”

A minute after leaving, the car returned and a male voice was allegedly heard to say: “Leave her bro. I don’t even care about her, let’s just go.”

Just seconds later, the car drove off again, only to be stopped by police soon after, the jury was told.

Officers allegedly found nitrous oxide cannisters in the boot, a small amount of in Owusu’s pocket and a small bag of white powder in a bag in the footwell.

The group were held for almost 50 minutes.

But officers decided not to make any arrests, and they were sent on their way on foot.

After dealing with the Mercedes stop, cops investigated reports of a woman lying on the pavement further up the road.

There they found Zahwa unresponsive and she later died at the scene.

The defendant was identified on the CCTV footage by his distinctive silver gilet and arrested the next day.

Owusu, from Dagenham, has pleaded not guilty to murder and the alternative charge of manslaughter.

The Old Bailey trial continues.

Owusu, from Dagenham, has pleaded not guilty to murder and the alternative charge of manslaughterCredit: Getty The trial at The Old Bailey is still continuingCredit: Getty