'Evil' builder, 33, 'ordered his 20-year-old niece to get into a freezer as part of a plan to FREEZE her to death - after playing out his sexual fantasies by raping her in the vacant £1.5m home of a client where he later slit her throat'
- Body of Celine Dookhran, 20, found inside a freezer in £1.5m London mansion
- Another woman was raped and had her throat cut but managed to survive
- Mujahid Arshid, 33, is charged with rape, murder, attempted murder and kidnap
- His alleged accomplice Vincent Tappu, 28, was charged with the kidnap of both
A builder ordered his 20-year-old niece to get into a freezer as part of a plan to freeze her to death after raping her in the vacant £1.5m home of a client where he later slit her throat, a court heard today.
Mujahid Arshid, 33, planned to abduct and kill 'attractive' Celine Dookhran, 20, and another woman, 21, for weeks after becoming enraged they had boyfriends, the Old Bailey heard.
Opening his trial at the Old Bailey, prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said it was a 'simply horrific' case.
He said Arshid kidnapped the women from London on Wednesday 19 July and took them to a house in the boot of a pick up truck.
When he got there he allegedly opened the boot and said 'time to co-operate.'
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| Mujahid Arshid (right) and alleged accomplice Vincent Tappu (left) are depicted here in a court sketch at from the Old Bailey today
It is said both were then taken inside and tied to the pipes in the utility room before Arshid raped them by playing out 'a number of his sexual fantasies.'
Jurors were told that the 21-year-old could 'hear screams that had gone on for at least 10 minutes' as she was tied up.
'And so we come to that deep freezer. The defendant told Celine to climb into the deep freeze in the kitchen, she refused, she said it was too cold.
'Arshid went and fetched a large towel and wrapped her in it. Celine, who must have been beside herself with fear - she had already been kidnapped and raped - climbed into the freezer.'
Arshid had even carried out an internet search looking for information about what temperature the human body freezes at.
Mr Aylett said he searched for the phrase 'at what temperature does the human body freeze at'.
He said: 'It would seem that Arshid must have intended that Celine should freeze to death.'
The other girl, he said, convinced Arshid to untie her and let Celine get out after telling him 'what they thought he wanted to hear.'
She is said to have pleaded with him that they would 'never say a word' to anyone.
But Arshid is said to have 'snapped back into action' and continued with his 'murderous plan.'
Mujahid Arshid, 33, and Vincent Tappu, 28, are on trial over the death of Celine Dookhran
He took Celine back upstairs, Mr Aylett said, and the girl heard screams, several thuds and the sound of tape being unrolled.
'And then there was silence,' he said.
Minutes later, he said, the girl was taken into the bathroom where she 'saw a container which had something in it.'
'She did know what was in the container, at first she thought it contained human organs.
'Although no such item was found and it is apparent from the post mortem examination that Celine was not disembowelled.'
Mr Aylett continued: 'It may be that what she saw was the lid of the container that was later recovered by the police from the kitchen table.
'Also recovered from the dustbin outside were a number of heavily blood-stained tissues.'
Mr Aylett said Arshid had become 'sexually fixated' with the women, and resolved 'if he cannot have them no-one could'.
On the evening of Tuesday July 18, Ms Dookhran, who worked at Barclays Bank in Mitcham, south west London, was put under pressure to split up with her boyfriend Omar because he was from Libya, and not Pakistan.
The next morning, Arshid put his plan into action to kidnap both women, taking clothes so it might appear they had simply run away, the court heard.
Wearing balaclavas and gloves and armed with a taser, Arshid and his accomplice Vincent Tappu allegedly snatched and bundled them into a pick-up truck, bound and gagged.
Arshid drove them to a six-bedroom house he was renovating in south west London between Wimbledon and Kingston where he had already installed a chest-height freezer in preparation, the court heard.
He then raped both terrified women and slashed them with a lock knife, having abandoned his earlier plan to let them freeze to death, jurors were told.
The surviving woman, who cannot be identified, had pleaded with him to let them go, saying: 'We know you're hurting, you can leave us two right now, walk out of that door.'
But according to her account, Ms Dookhran screamed as she was killed by Arshid in the bathroom of the house.
Afterwards, Arshid allegedly told her: 'I'm this close to slitting your wrist and getting this rope and tying it round your neck and just killing you here right now.'
The woman described how Arshid initially told her Ms Dookhran was 'sleeping', before he attacked her too, slashing her neck, chest and stomach, the court heard.
As she lay seriously injured, Arshid sexually assaulted her again and said: 'How are you still breathing? You should have seen Celine when I cut her neck, there was so much blood, oh my God,' the court heard.
The woman eventually managed to talk Arshid around and he confessed to being a 'nasty, horrible, evil person', the court heard.
She also raised the alarm by texting her boyfriend and mother, saying 'He's going to kill me. Don't reply,' the court heard.
Mr Aylett told jurors: 'As extraordinary and appalling as the defendant's behaviour had been, it appears that he now came to his senses.'
Having decided against killing her, Arshid took her to meet his brother, telling him them were going to be 'running away together', the court heard.
Instead, the brother took her straight to hospital, as she looked like a 'ghost' and had been 'brutally cut', jurors were told.
Officers went to the house and discovered the body of Ms Dookhran in a padlocked freezer in a utility room.
Her mouth was stuffed with a sock and she had died from the combined effect of restricted airways and loss of blood.
The second woman had her throat cut but duped him into believing they could be together in a desperate bid for survival.
'He considered either putting them in acid, in order that their bodies might dissolve, or else concealing them in a deep freezer.'
The night before the murder, Arshid allegedly armed himself with an axe at a family showdown to discuss Celine's relationship.
The court heard her family did not agree with Celine, an Indian Muslim, having a sexual relationship with her boyfriend Omar, a Libyan Muslim.
After the meeting, Tappu who had been working for Arshid on a part-time basis, was drafted in as an accomplice.
They made an arrangement the day before and early on July 19 Tappu drove to a side street near where Miss Dookhran lived, it was said.
The two men, wearing balaclavas and gloves, burst into her room and Ashrid scooped up clothes and phones to give the 'entirely false' impression Miss Dookhran had run away.
He also grabbed large quantities of underwear, 'no doubt consistent with his sexual fascination' with her, the court was told.
Prosecutor Crispin Aylett, QC, warned the jury that they would have to prepare themselves to deal with the terrible facts of the case surrounding Ms Dookhran's murder
They then bundled the girls into a car but Tappu played no further part, jurors were told.
Describing what happened when they arrived at the scene of the crime, Mr Aylett said the boot was opened and Arshid told them: 'Time to co-operate.'
Jurors were told that the 21-year-old could 'hear screams that had gone on for at least 10 minutes' as she was tied up.
Mr Aylett told the court Celine was ordered to climb inside the freezer having 'already been raped'.
He added: 'It would seem that Arshid must have intended that Celine should freeze to death.'
The other girl, he said, convinced Arshid to untie her and let Celine get out after telling him 'what they thought he wanted to hear.'
She is said to have pleaded with him that they would 'never say a word' to anyone.
But Arshid 'snapped back into action' and continued with his 'murderous plan.'
He took Celine back upstairs, Mr Aylett said, and the girl heard screams, several thuds and the sound of tape being unrolled.
'And then there was silence,' he said.
A court drawing from an earlier hearing of Mujahid Arshid (left) and Vincent Tappu (right)
Arshid allegedly drove the women to the house, and tied them to the pipes in the utility room while he was armed with a lock knife, before raping them in turn
Mr Aylett added: 'In the bathroom of that house, he cut Celine's throat, most likely with the lock knife.
'With her mouth still stuffed with a sock, Celine died from the combined effect of the restriction of her airwaves and the blood that she lost.'
The court heard Arshid then took the second woman who is in her 20s, upstairs and cut her throat and told her 'she would be dead within ten minutes'.
But she managed to convince him to let her go after telling him: 'We know you're hurting, you can leave us two right now, walk out of that door.'
Arshid then left the property with the badly wounded woman who was later taken to hospital by his brother, the court heard.
Eventually she got hold of a phone to ring her mother, even though she did not know where she was.
Meanwhile, Arshid had fled to the Kent coast and was arrested at a hotel in Folkestone still possessing the padlock key, the court heard.
Mr Aylett said: 'A police officer arrived with a crowbar. The lock was broken and inside was the body of Celine Dookhran. She had obviously been dead for some considerable time.'
Meanwhile, Arshid fled to the Kent coast and was arrested at a hotel in Folkestone, the court heard.
Arshid, of no fixed address, and Tappu, 28, of Spencer Road, Acton, west London, deny the charges against them.
Arshid is accused of murder, attempted murder, rape of both women and the previous sexual assault and assault by penetration of the surviving woman when she was about 13.
He is jointly charged with Tappu of both women's kidnap and false imprisonment, and possession of a firearm with intent.
The trial continues.
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