The murders of Raneem and Khaola

Mother and daughter stabbed to death in the street having begged police to protect them. Listen to Nour Norris, Khaola's sister and Raneem's aunt, talk to me about the campaign for justice

Khaola Saleem and Raneem Oudah

When Raneem Oudah migrated from Syria to join her mother Khaola Saleem in the UK in 2014, she was full of hope for the future. Reunited with her loving family that had settled in Solihull, Raneem was keen to learn English and embark on a career. Raneem felt safe, having escaped a war-torn country. Four years later, aged just 22 she was dead.

Raneem’s husband Janbaz Tarin murdered both his wife and her mother, following an horrific campaign of domestic abuse towards Raneem.

The inquest into the murders concluded last month, concluding with a verdict of unlawful killing and long narrative verdicts setting out multiple ways in which police failures into escalating domestic abuse materially contributed to the deaths of both women. There were multiple repeated incidents of domestic abuse reported by Raneem, paramedics, and neighbours which led to failures to provide protection to her, failures to record or investigate any crimes, failures to arrest and failures to safeguard. A catastrophic failure to respond to 999 calls on the night of the murder and downgrading of risk also materially contributed to the deaths.

One of the witnesses giving evidence at the inquest was Nour Norris, who was Raneem’s aunt and Khaola’s sister.

When they had married in April 2017, Tarin, an Afghani Muslim, had warned Raneem: “We don’t have a divorce in our culture. The day you will be free from me is when I’ll kill you.” Sixteen months later, on 27 August 2018, Tarin fatally stabbed Raneem and her mother in what was clearly an ‘honour based’ crime. As Dr Hannana Siddiqui of the group Southall Black Sisters, says: “Janbaz’s ultra conservative religious and cultural beliefs viewed women as men’s property. He would have regarded the murders as restoring his so called ‘honour’ following Raneem’s refusal to conform.”

I meet Nour at her home in Solihull where she tells me about her niece: “Raneem was blossoming. She was beautiful, very clever, funny, jolly.”

Raneem and Tarin met on an English language course at Solihull College shortly after she arrived in the UK. He initially tried to harass her to date him but she refused. However, Tarin’s behaviour grew so menacing and obsessive that, in 2015, Raneem reported him to the college. He was suspended for non-attendance.

“I think at that point, he decided that she was going to be one of his possessions,” says Nour.

Raneem’s family arranged an Islamic (religious and not legally binding) marriage for her to another man in the hope that this would end Tarin’s harassment. She became pregnant but the relationship ended before their son was born.

When, in 2016 Tarin began to pursue Raneem again, she caved in. “She was depressed and alone with a baby,” says Nour. “Tarin initially showed her love and then said, ‘You know, I can harm you and your family if you leave me’.”

Raneem and Tarin were married in April 2017 and they moved into Raneem’s flat. The family were not happy about the union, considering Tarin to be overly controlling and obsessive, but Raneem had been ground down by the harassment, and felt stigmatised by her single parent status.

“We learned later that Raneem’s determination [to go through with the marriage] was based on her fear of him”, says Nour.

Throughout the marriage, Tarin raped, violently assaulted and coercively controlled Raneem. Although he was never arrested or charged, the police were aware of a series of violent incidents and threats to kill from him towards Raneem. There were also numerous 999 calls concerning domestic violence but little police action was ever taken.

Two months after they married, a neighborhood housing officer made a routine visit to the flat and noticed bruising to Raneem and her son. Terrified that Tarin would become even more violent if she disclosed the abuse, Raneem claimed the injuries were the result of an accident.

Weeks later, police were called by a neighbour who said he had heard adults screaming and a child crying. But Raneem and Tarin told the officer that nothing untoward had happened and no action was taken. In October 2017, following a hand injury that she said was caused by an accident, Raneem attended hospital but no concerns were raised by staff.

In December 2017, Tarin announced that he had to go to Afghanistan to renew his passport, but Raneem was suspicious. She spoke to Tarin’s father who told her that his son was married with three children and that his first wife was expecting another baby. She also discovered that he had stolen her entire savings - £2000 – for the trip.

“It was the final straw,” says Nour. “That’s when she decided to leave him for good.”

Raneem then moved in with her mother and, when Tarin returned to the UK in January 2018, he continued to stalk her, demanding she came back to him.

As part of his campaign of intimidation, Tarin sent Nour a photograph of his forearm on which he had carved Raneem’s name. “When I showed her she immediately returned to him,” says Nour. “Raneem understood it was a message to her, that if he was capable of doing that to himself then what could he do to her?”

“I remember her saying to me, “Auntie, I believe my time is up soon. He will kill me,” recalls Nour.

Eventually, Raneem took the courageous step of applying for a Non-Molestation Order (NMO), granted by the court in in domestic abuse cases in order to prevent further harassment and intimidation. It contained a police power of arrest if breached, with a maximum prison sentence of five years, and was served on Tarin on 17 August. For a few days, Tarin stayed away.

“Raneem and my sister were really happy, really excited that he seemed to have left them alone,” says Nour.

But because there had been a delay by Raneem’s solicitors in posting the order, it has not been officially processed by the time the murders were committed.

The Centre for Women's Justice (CWJ), a legal charity which has provided support and advocacy to the family, lodged a police super complaint in 2019, highlighting the widespread failures of police to take action in cases where the perpetrator has breached an NMO. In a number of such cases, women have died at the hands of the abuser.

On the day of the murders, Khaola and Raneem went to a local shisha bar to meet a friend. CCTV cameras caught Tarin driving past several times before he approached Raneem and assaulted her. When Khaola intervened, she was also attacked. After being ejected from the shisha lounge, Tarin was then witnessed making a slicing action across his throat. The women decided to return to Raneem’s flat, because, despite calling the police from the shisha lounge, begging them to arrest Tarin for breach of the NMO, they failed to attend.

They drove to Raneem’s flat, terrified he was coming to find them, and, discovering they did not have the keys, parked outside and Raneem called the police three more times. But they did not come, instead advising them to go Khaola’s house and lock the doors. They agreed, terrified, and knowing the police were not going to provide an emergency response.

As Raneem got out of her car at Khaola’s, the police called to arrange a visit the following morning. Raneem asked, “Is he going to be locked up in the morning? But was told they were unable to do so until they saw the NMO. While Raneem was still speaking to the police, Tarin attacked her, and the officer heard her dying screams.

“[Khaola] had already reached the door,” said Nour. “But she took the choice to run back to her daughter to try to protect her.” Tarin turned the knife on Khaola and, when police arrived minutes later, both women were dead.

Tarin fled the scene but was arrested three days later and charged with two counts of murder. He pled guilty and in December 2018 was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 32 years.

But for Nour, her life has been devastated. “The pain is like a constant toothache,” she says, telling me she plans on becoming more involved in the campaign to end domestic violence now that the inquest is over. “I want something to come out of this terrible tragedy,” she says. “I want to stop it from happening to other women.”