An American woman has denied trying to shoot a man at close range outside his house in a Birmingham cul-de-sac saying she was too fat to be a person caught on CCTV running away afterwards.
Giving evidence in court on Tuesday, Aimee Betro, 45, said she was not the woman dressed in a niqab seen attempting to fire a weapon at Sikander Ali. It jammed and he escaped in his car.
After being shown footage of the incident showing a figure getting out of a Mercedes and approaching Mr Ali with gun drawn, she was asked by defence barrister Paul Lewis KC: ‘Is that you?
Betro, in a black top, glasses and with her hair styled in two ‘space buns’ on the top of her head, replied ‘no’.
Mr Lewis said: ‘Do you know who it is? She replied again ‘no’.
Betro was also asked about separate CCTV showing a ‘slim’ figure fleeing after the Mercedes was dumped. Mr Lewis said: ‘I’m now going to ask a question a man should never ask a lady, and bearing in mind my own physique, would you describe yourself as slim?’
Betro said: ‘Not as slim as that person in that…I wouldn’t say I was slim.’
Betro was the person seen in footage running along a street was too slim to be her
A woman dressed in a burka can be seen approaching a black SUV and firing a gun but it jams
The court heard Aimee Betro tried to disguise her appearance by wearing a niqab – a face covering
Betro, who once studied early childhood education, and is originally from Wisconsin, is accused of disguising her appearance with a niqab before trying to shoot Mr Ali before returning and firing three bullets through the windows of his home in Measham Grove, Birmingham in September 2019.
She is said to have travelled from the US to carry out the shooting after being ‘recruited’ by two co conspirators Mohammed Nazir, 30, who she was ‘in love’ with, and his father Mohammed Aslam, 56, from Derby, who have already been tried and convicted over the plot.
Both have been convicted of conspiracy to murder and while Nazir was also convicted of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. The motive for the murder was ‘revenge’ as Nazir and Aslam were involved in a ‘vendetta’ with a Birmingham clothes shop owner called Aslat Mahumad, whose son was Mr Ali.
Betro denies three charges of conspiracy to murder, possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, and a charge related to the alleged importation of ammunition into the UK.
She told Birmingham Crown Court she was in love with Nazir, who she met on a dating app. She had slept with him at an Airbnb during a visit to the UK spanning December 2018 and January 2019.
She said she returned to the UK again in August 2019, arriving at Manchester Airport from Atlanta around two weeks before the shooting, to celebrate her birthday and to attend a boat party in London she had won tickets for.
Describing Nazir she told the court: ‘He was charming and I did like him. He was sweet and I did have feelings for him.’
She told the court ‘I would guess so’ when asked if she thought Nazir had feelings for her, but added that she was not trying to build a relationship with him because they lived in different countries.
Betro was also caught on CCTV buying a cheap mobile phone from Tesco in Birmingham, the court was told
CCTV showing Betro arriving at the Rotunda hotel in Birmingham wearing a summer dress, hoodie, rucksack and flip flops
On Tuesday, she also denied being a woman with an American accent who arranged for a taxi to take her to Measham Grove and of being the woman who bought the Mercedes, who the buyer described as ‘short and fat’.
Asked about why her DNA was found on a black glove in the Mercedes, she said the only explanation she could think of was when she tried one on to put ‘gas’ in Nazir’s car on an earlier occasion.
The court was also told two witnesses described the person seen in Measham Grove after shots were fired through the window as being ‘6ft’ – which Betro said she wasn’t.
She said she was in the city centre at the time of the shootings with friends she met through a music streaming service. Mr Lewis said to her: ‘Whatever grievance Mr Nazir and his father may have had against Aslat Mahumad and his family, did you have any problem with them?
Betro said: ‘I did not know them.’
Aimee Betro, 45, in social media posts from before the shooting
Mohammed Nabil Nazir, 30, who has already been jailed at Birmingham Crown Court over the gun attack on a rival family
Nazir’s father, Mohammed Aslam, 56, has also been jailed over the shooting
Mr Lewis said: ‘Did you have any reason or motive to shoot Aslat Mahumad of any members of his family?
She replied: ‘No’.
Mr Lewis asked her if anyone had asked her to carry out the shooting, and she said no. He said: ‘If they had asked you, what would you answer have been?
Betro said: ‘I would have said no’.
The trial continues.
