Aamir Siddiqi case: Mother believed killers were joking

Aamir Siddiqi was stabbed at his home in Cardiff last year

The mother of a teenage boy stabbed to death at his Cardiff home believed his killers were joking, a jury has heard.

Prosecutors claim Aamir Siddiqi, 17, was murdered by mistake by contract killers who called at the wrong house.

"My first reaction was that it was a joke and they will take off their masks and say 'I scared you'," said Aamir's mother Parveen Ahmad.

Ben Hope, 38, and Jason Richards, 37, deny murder. The trial at Cardiff Crown Court was adjourned till Tuesday.

His parents Iqbal and Parveen Ahmad were injured themselves as they rushed to his aid following the attack in April 2010.

Patrick Harrington QC, prosecuting, previously told the jury that Mr Hope and Mr Richards were each paid about £1,000 to target a man who lived in a similar house nearby who had failed to return a £50,000 deposit.

'No enemies'

The jury watched videoed police interviews in which Mrs Ahmad broke down as she told how the attack happened at their home in Roath.

In the recording made the day after the murder, she said they were waiting for her son's Koran teacher to arrive for a lesson and told him to answer the door when the bell rang.

As the boy opened the door, she saw two masked men holding daggers above their head who began to howl.

"My first reaction was that it was a joke and they will take off their masks and say 'I scared you'," she said.

"In the first second I thought it was a joke. In the second I said to Aamir they have come to rob us. I thought they were going to go upstairs.

"I was expecting them to go upstairs and grab my things."

She added: "I am still amazed at who did it and why they did it because we have no enemies. My family has no enemies. We are friends with everyone."

"They are foolish people. They did not know what they were doing. They took a precious thing of life.

Mrs Ahmad, who also has three daughters, said: "Money is nothing to us because God blessed us with intelligent children. My children are doing very important jobs."

First concerns

Her 68-year-old husband was stabbed as he intervened, before she herself was slashed by a knife.

She said her son tried to get away but was pulled back and stabbed again, falling to the ground an losing consciousness.

Mrs Ahmad said that despite her own knife wounds and those of her husband her only thought was for her son.

She said: "He was an extraordinary person, intelligent, obedient, kind, humorous, fun loving, caring... I don't think I know anybody else like him."

She said she used to tell him: "Aamir, you're so precious to me."

She said that because she had three girls she had always wanted a boy and he was a "blessing".

"I loved him so much," she said.

"I was not concerned as to where he (her husband) was going, I was only concerned about Aamir. He was my only son.

"Aamir loved me so much. He always wanted to please me and do things for me.

"Was this written in his fate? I do not know."