Zahra Ghulami: Father denies hurting Gravesend toddler

Maidstone Crown Court heard that Jan Gholami was at the supermarket when his adopted daughter Zahra was injured at home in May 2020

A man accused of killing his adopted daughter has told a court that he did not hurt her.

Jan Gholami, 32, and his wife Roqia Ghulami, 31, were charged with the murder of two-year-old Zahra Ghulami who died following a serious head injury in Gravesend in May 2020.

On Tuesday, Maidstone Crown Court was told Mr Gholami was at the supermarket when Zahra was injured.

The pair, originally from Afghanistan, deny all charges.

Zahra was admitted to hospital on 27 May 2020, before she was transferred to a hospital in London where she died two days later.

On her arrival at hospital, concerns were raised to Kent Police and the pair were subsequently arrested and charged with murder, causing or allowing the death of a child and child neglect.

Speaking via an interpreter at court, Mr Gholami said when he left home to go to the supermarket during the first Covid-19 lockdown on 27 May 2020, Zahra was fine.

"She'd finished eating her breakfast and she was well and healthy," he said, but when he returned he was told by his son that Zahra had fallen from the stairs and was vomiting.

He added: "She was not in a good state. When I called her a few times, she wouldn't respond."

The prosecution allege that Mr Gholami went to the supermarket to create a false alibi and accuse him of inflicting injuries to the toddler before he left.

Mr Gholami told the court he loved his adopted daughter as much as his other children and said: "Sometimes I even treated her better, as I didn't want her to believe she didn't belong in the same family."

Mrs Ghulami chose not to give evidence to the court in her defence but said in a previous police interview that she "heard a noise" and thought Zahra had "hit her head on the heater or the door" after falling from the stairs.

She also told police "we have never hurt the children".

The trial continues.

Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].