American 'hitwoman' accused of failed assassination attempt on Birmingham shop owner tells jury she flew into the country to celebrate her birthday and attend boat party

Daily Mail​

28-07-2025

An American 'hitwoman' who has been accused of attempting to assassinate a Birmingham shopkeeper flew to the UK to celebrate her birthday and attend a boat party, a jury heard.
Aimee Betro, 45, disguised herself by wearing a niqab and tried to shoot Sikander Ali at point blank range outside his home in Measham Grove, Birmingham, but the gun jammed, allowing Mr Ali to flee, the court was told.
She is alleged to have flown from Wisconsin as part of a plot orchestrated by co-conspirators Mohammed Aslam, 56, and Mohammed Nabil Nazir, 31, of Elms Avenue in Derby, to attack a rival family on September 7, 2019.
Giving evidence in her defence on Monday, Betro explained that she visited the UK three times before the shooting.
She told Birmingham Crown Court she had slept with Nazir at an Airbnb during a visit to the UK spanning December 2018 and January 2019.
During a second visit to the UK in May 2019, she said she did not meet Nazir, who she 'had feelings' for.
In her evidence, Betro said on both occasions she did 'touristy' things, including attending music events, viewing street art in east London, visiting a friend in Birmingham and taking care of a dog 'at someone's house in the middle of England'.
Asked why she had paid a third visit to the UK, arriving at Manchester Airport from Atlanta around two weeks before the shooting, Betro told jurors: 'To celebrate my birthday and I won tickets for another boat party in London.
'And there was another little festival that was at Crystal Palace that I wanted to go to.'
Betro denies conspiracy to murder, possessing a self-loading pistol and a charge of fraudulently evading the prohibition on importing ammunition.
Her barrister, Paul Lewis KC, asked her what she thought of Nazir after meeting him on a dating app, communicating with him via Snapchat and meeting him in London.
Betro answered: 'He was charming and I did like him. He was sweet and I did have feelings for him.'
She told the court 'I would guess so' when asked if she thought Nazir had feelings for her, but added that she was not trying to build a relationship with him because they lived in different countries.
Standing up in the witness box, Betro, wearing a casual round-necked navy blue top and square-rimmed glasses, began her evidence by giving personal details, including her height as being 5ft 5ins.
During her evidence, Betro was asked about messages between her and Nazir which referred to a gun broker website and a silencer.
She said she did not remember the message referring to a broker, but told the court she had posted 'gaming things' relating to an an old gaming system.
She also told the court she had lived at an address in West Allis, Winsconsin, from 2013 to 2019 and had 'a couple of different degrees' in early childhood education and graphic design.
The Crown alleges that Betro returned to the scene hours after the shooting and fired three shots into Mr Ali's house, which was empty at the time, before leaving the UK and flying back to the US the next day.
The court heard father and son Aslam and Nazir, who were jailed last year for their part in the bungled assassination plot, were involved in a feud with Mr Ali's father, Aslat Mahumad.
Nazir and Aslam had been injured during disorder at Mr Mahumad's clothing boutique in Birmingham in July 2018, jurors have been told, leading them to conspire to have someone kill him or a member of his family.
Opening the case, Tom Walkling KC, prosecuting said: 'On the seventh of September 2019 in a suburban cul de sac in South Yardley a would-be assassin tried to shoot a man called Sikander Ali at close range outside his house.
'The assassin was a woman who tried to disguise her appearance by wearing a niqab - a face covering - and what looked like a burka.'
He told jurors the gun jammed but she was 'not deterred' and 'returned to the same address on the same cul-de-sac a few hours later and used the now working gun to shoot three bullets through the bedroom windows of the victim's home.'
The court was told her two co conspirators Mohammed Nazir, 30, and his father Mohammed Aslam, 56, from Derby, had already been tried and convicted over the plot.
Both have been convicted of conspiracy to murder while Nazir was also convicteded of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
Mr Walkling said Betro was in contact with Nazir before she flew to Manchester Airport in August 2019.
Mr Walkling said Betro had two phones - a normal 'day to day' phone which she used regularly - and a 'dirty phone' - bought before the shooting.
Mr Walkling said the motive for the murder was 'revenge'.
He said Nazir and Aslam were involved in a 'vendetta' with a family in Birmingham, specifically a clothes shop owner called Aslat Mahumad, whose son was Sikander Ali.
Both men lived at an address in Measham Grove, South Yardley where Betro allegedly tried to murder Mr Ali and where she fired bullets through the window.
The court heard that in July 2018 there was a disorder at Mr Mahumad's clothes shop which resulted in damage to the premises and Nazir, Aslam, and Aslat Mahumad all getting injured.
Mr Walkling said: 'This is the background to the shooting and attempted shooting outside Aslat Mahumad's house the following year, and the only connection we have between Nazir and Aslam and the family who lived at that address in Measham Grove.'
Jurors were told that on August Betro went to Birmingham and hired a Mercedes C Class car from Enterprise at Birmingham Airport.
The car was later involved in a three car collision in Derby with Mohammed Nazir and another woman. Both later received insurance payouts, the court heard.
She then stayed at a hotel in Derby for two nights before travelling to London and Brighton before returning to Birmingham and then back to Derby.
The court was played a video clip - from Nazir's phone - showing a gun being fired into the ground three days before the attempted shooting in Birmingham which prosecutors said was a bid to 'test' the weapon.
Mr Walkling said: 'It's a firearm that fires the same calibre of ammunition that police recovered from outside the victim's home a few days after this video was made.'
The 'metadata' for the clip shows it was created on September 4, 2019, the day Betro was in Derby and three minutes before Nazir added Betro's snapchat details into his phone.
Mr Walkling said to jurors: 'You have to ask your self was Betro there with Nazir testing this gun?
Other CCTV footage from Rotunda hotel in Birmingham shows Betro in a summer dress, hoodie, rucksack and flip flops.
While at the hotel on September 6 she phoned Aslat Mahumad, claiming she wanted to buy the car he was selling online.
Mr Walkling said: 'Mr Mahumad recalls being called by a woman with an American accent... He was confused, as he hadn't listed his number online.
'The woman said she wanted to buy the car today, but Mr Mahumad said she could see it tomorrow.
'As I'm sure you have guessed, ladies and gentlemen, we say the woman with the American accent was this defendant, Aimee Betro, and that she was calling Mr Mahumad as a pretext to set up a chance to kill him. And who else could it be? she had the phone she bought it only hours before.'
Later that night she met up with Nazir, who went with her to her hotel room where they ordered food on Deliveroo before he travelled back to Derby with his father in their transit van.
The following day she tried to kill Aslat Mahumad's son, jurors were told.
The court heard she left the hotel and bought another cheap mobile phone and SIM card - all caught on CCTV.
She later called a man selling used Mercedes E240 from his garage, Rock Cars, in Alum Rock.
Mr Walkling told jurors: 'He sold it to someone he described, perhaps unkindly, as a short, fat woman, who spoke with an American accent, wore a summer dress, and had a bag over her shoulder.
'Helpfully you can see still images of what Betro wore when she went out that day. A fitting if unflattering match to the description [he] gave.'
He said the car was later driven to Measham Grove, the scene of the shooting. He said: 'It's the car in which the would-be assassin waited, and its the car from which she emerged to try and kill Sikander Ali.'
Jurors were told that when buying the car she gave the name 'Becky Booth' and a false address.
Mr Walkling said Becky was a 'nom de guerre' that Betro used again later that day when booking a taxi after the botched shooting.
After buying the car she called Mr Mahumad once again on the pretext of looking at a car. Mr Mahumad said he couldn't meet, and that she could meet someone else with the car the next day.
Later that day she met with Nazir and Aslam with mobile phone data showing her dirty phone connected to Nazir's wireless network - known as a 'hotspot'.
The Mercedes was later seen at the entrance to Measham Grove. Mr Walking said the driver 'appears to be wearing a face-covering, a niqab'.
He said at 7.22pm hours, Betro drove onto Measham Grove and waited for her target.
He said she waited for more than 45 minutes.
At 9.10pm Sikander Ali pulled onto Measham Grove in his black SUV which was all caught on camera.
In video footage played to the court, a woman which the prosecution said was Betro, can be seen approaching the SUV and firing but the gun jams.
Mr Ali is able to reverse away at speed, clipping the Mercedes' door as he does. The court was told the collision bent the the door badly enough that it wouldn't close, and Betro had to drive away with the door half open.
She later dumped the Mercedes. Police found a black glove with Betro's DNA inside.
'Further proof if any was needed ... that she was the gunwoman in the burka',' Mr Walkling said.
Six minutes later she was again caught on CCTV shown to the jury from close to where the car was dumped wearing a summer dress, hoodie and flip flops and carrying two bags.
'There is no doubt that is Betro,' Mr Walkling said.
She later called a taxi to take her back to the hotel, a recording of which was played to the jury. The caller had a distinct American accent and used the name 'Becky'.
CCTV, also shown to the jury, shows her returning to the Rotunda, still wearing the same summer dress and flip flops. She left the hotel an hour and 10 minutes later having changed her outfit to trousers with white stipes down the side and black Converse trainers.
Betro then sent text messages to her intended target, the court was told. Screenshots of the texts were shown to the jury.
She said to him: 'Where are you hiding? followed by 'Stop playing hide and seek you are lucky it jammed'.
Betro then called another taxi to take her back to Measham Grove.
Jurors were show CCTV of a figure matching Betro's description firing three shots in to the family home.
'Ladies and gentlemen the gun didn't jam that time did it?' Mr Walkling said.
'Did you note, the hoodie, and the handbag worn across her body, just as Betro was dressed earlier.
'Three shots were fired. Three bullets went through the windows of Aslat Muhamad's family home. Three bullet casings were found in the street outside.'
Jurors were shown pictures of the damage the bullets caused. Mr Walking said: 'Two went through the bay window on the left. The other went through the bedroom window on the right.'
Mr Walkling said Betro then got back into the taxi and during the journey she sent a text message to Mr Mahumad which said: 'you wanna rip me off you wanna be a drug king go look at your house watch your back i'll be shedding blood'.
She flew back to the US the following day from Manchester Airport.
Nazir flew out to join her three days later.