Lakhvir Singh (44) murdered her ex-lover and tried to kill his fiancee with a spiked curry, a London court heard yesterday
Lakhvir Singh (44) murdered her ex-lover and tried to kill his fiancee with a spiked curry, a London court heard yesterdayA mother of three accused of sprinkling a deadly herb into a meal being eaten by her former lover and his fiancu00e9e had confronted the woman four weeks earlier, a court was told.
Lakhvir Singh (44, pictured) visited Gurjeet Choough (22) on Christmas Eve 2008 to tell her that she had been pregnant twice with Lakhvinder Cheema's baby but that she had an abortion on each occasion.
Cheema and Choough were taken ill in January last year after eating a curry that had been laced with aconite.
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The court heard how Singh used "an extremely toxic and deadly poison, possibly brought especially from India... an ancient choice of poisoners" which was so dangerous it was known by the Greeks as 'the Queen of Poisons'.
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They were taken to hospital but Cheema (39) was paralysed by the toxin in less than an hour and died shortly afterwards.
Choough was put into a coma by doctors and survived because she had eaten less of the meal.
Choough gave evidence yesterday at the Old Bailey and said that she and Cheema had been due to be married on Valentine's Day.
She told jurors that she was shocked to learn of the affair between Singh and Cheema but said that it did not affect their relationship.
X'mas eve visitDescribing the visit on Christmas Eve she said that Singh arrived at her house in Feltham, West London, for a cup of tea.
Choough said, "I told her not to interfere in our marriage. I told her to forget whatever had gone on in the past.
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She said, 'I cannot forget the feelings'. I tried to reason with her quite a lot but it had no effect on her.
She was crying. I told her, 'You have your own family, you have three children, you should look after them'.
"Lakhvir said, 'I have had a relationship with Lakhvinder for 16 years'. I told her that the relationship had now ended because he was now engaged to me. She said Lakhvinder had said that he would never get married.
"I told her, 'You should have married him'. She said, 'I was willing to give up everything for him but Lakhvinder didn't agree'.
She said that twice she had applied for a divorce but Lakhvinder did not allow that to happen."
Two abortionsSingh allegedly told her that she had become pregnant twice by Cheema but had had abortions.
Choough said she that had asked her fiancu00e9 about the claims, but that he said Singh was lying.
Choough added, "He said that she is capable of anything, she is capable of laying the blame on anything."
Singh is said to have acted out of "jealousy, anger and revenge" after the engagement put an end to her affair with Cheema.
| Queen Of Poisons |
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The Greeks hailed the Black Aconite as 'the Queen of Poisons', created from the saliva of three-headed Cerberus, mythical guardian of the underworld.
Used in countless societies, it is alternatively named monkshood, wolfsbane, leopard's bane, women's bane, Devil's helmet or blue rocket, and was the deadliest toxin known to mankind until the 20th century. |
