London (AFP) – An American woman was on Tuesday found guilty at a UK court of participating in a 2019 plot to murder a British man caught up in a bitter feud between families. After a years-long police hunt, Aimee Betro, 45, was extradited earlier this year from Armenia where she was living, to face trial in the central English city of Birmingham.
Prosecutors told the court Betro had covered her face in a niqab as she climbed out of a car in September 2019 and tried to shoot Sikander Ali at point-blank range. But the handgun jammed, and Ali fled in his car which was parked outside his home. Prosecutors said Betro was part of a plot with co-conspirators Mohammed Aslam, 56, and his 31-year-old son, Mohammed Nabil Nazir. Betro had met Nazir on an online dating site and told the jury she was in love with him. Both men were jailed last year for their roles in the “violent” feud which erupted after they were injured in a brawl at Ali’s father’s clothing store in July 2018.
“Betro tried to kill a man in a Birmingham street at point-blank range. It is sheer luck that he managed to get away unscathed,” said prosecutor Hannah Sidaway. The case had been brought to trial after “years of hard work doggedly pursuing Aimee Betro across countries and borders,” she added. Graphic design graduate Betro did not know Ali and denied three charges including conspiracy to murder and possessing a self-loading pistol, saying she had no knowledge of the plot.
Betro, who is originally from Wisconsin, told jurors it was “just a terrible coincidence” that she had been close to the scene of the attack. She maintained the real shooter was “another American woman” who sounded similar to her and had the same phone and brand of trainers. Police said they had seen no evidence that Betro was paid for her role in the attempted attack. She will be sentenced on August 21.
© 2024 AFP
