'Hired killer' denies shooting Brit as she's 'too fat' to be woman seen on CCTV
A woman accused of being involved in a botched assassination attempt has insisted she wasn't in possession of any gun - and was too fat to be a person caught on CCTV fleeing the scene.
Aimee Betro, 45, from Wisconsin, allegedly flew to Britain as part of a plot with co-conspirators Mohammed Aslam, 56, and his son Mohammed Nabil Nazir, 31, targeting a family rival in September 2019. Giving evidence on Tuesday, she told a jury she had no knowledge of any shooting attempt when she left the country two days later. Prosecutors claim Betro concealed her identity with a niqab and attempted to shoot Sikander Ali at a close range outside his home in Measham Grove, Yardley, Birmingham - but the gun reportedly jammed, allowing the man to escape.
During questioning by her defence barrister Paul Lewis KC, Betro addressed the allegations in timeline order, telling the court she had been in Birmingham city centre at the time of both the failed shooting and a follow-up shooting at the intended victim's house hours later. She also denied being the woman - described as short, fat and speaking with an American accent - who was seen buying a Mercedes said to have been used in the plot.
During her second day of evidence to Birmingham Crown Court, Betro was also asked about CCTV showing a 'slim' figure fleeing after the car was dumped.
Mr Lewis said: "I'm now going to ask a question a man should never ask a lady, and bearing in mind my own physique, would you describe yourself as slim?"
Betro replied: "Not as slim as that person in that...I wouldn't say I was slim."
Mr Lewis asked Betro: 'In effect the Crown are saying that Mr Nazir or his father got you involved in a plan to kill, and that you were the person who actually wielded the gun?' Betro answered 'it wasn't me' and added that there was no truth to the allegations made against her.
Asserting that she had 'no reason or motive' to carry out the shooting and did not know the intended victim's family, Betro said she would have said no if she had been asked to take part in any plot. After viewing CCTV in court and claiming the person seen in the niqab was not her, Betro said she was in Birmingham city centre at the time of the incident. Asked where she was at the time, Betro said: 'I don't really know where but I didn't leave the centre.'
At the time of the second gun-related incident, Betro said of her whereabouts: 'I was out with my friend and his friends – my friend that did work with a music streaming service. 'We just went out – just around the centre. I don't really know where we went. I don't know the names.'
Betro also claimed she didn't have a gun on her at any time during the night of September 7 into the early hours of September 8, when three shots were fired at the Yardley property after a woman arrived there in a taxi.
Betro told the jury on Monday that she flew into the country to celebrate her birthday and attend a boat party, having met Nazir on a dating app and having previously travelled to the UK to meet him. The defendant denies conspiracy to murder, possessing a self-loading pistol and a charge of fraudulently evading the prohibition on importing ammunition.
The court has heard Aslam and Nazir, who were jailed last year for their part in the assassination plot, were involved in a feud with Mr Ali's father, Aslat Mahumad. Nazir and Aslam, both of Elms Avenue in Derby, 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.
The trial continues.
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