Family grieves for Sabina as police hunt for killers

11:43am Wednesday 15th November 2006

The shooting of Sabina Rizvi was a crime which sent shockwaves through Bexley. But nearly four years later a grieving mum is still looking for justice and the police for the murderers.

FOR Iffat Rizvi the pain never ends. Every night she lays awake, going over in her mind the events of the early hours of March 20, 2003, which left her only daughter, Sabina, dead in a hail of bullets.

‘I told Sabina to come home but she said she would wait while the police checked the Audi.’

IFFAT RIZVI

The 51-year-old still blames herself for Sabina's death at the hands of a gunman who has yet to be caught.

She said: "It kills me there are people walking around out there who took my daughter's life.

"Sabina was the heart and soul of our family.

"They have taken an innocent girl's life when there was no call for it."

Sabina, 25, died when the blue metallic Nissan Bluebird she was driving was ambushed in Watling Street, Bexleyheath, at about 2.20am.

She was shot in the leg, arm and throat and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Also in the car was her boyfriend Mark Williams, 28, a self-confessed drug dealer of Waterhead Close, Erith.

Despite being shot twice in the head, Williams survived the attack.

The couple had just left nearby Bexleyheath police station where they had been interviewed about the disputed ownership of an Audi TT sports car.

And the shooting was a revenge killing, masterminded by Thamesmead man Paul Asbury, then 21, who claimed the £20,000 Audi car belonged to him.

Asbury, a rival drug dealer who was convicted of Sabina's murder and the attempted murder of Williams at the Old Bailey in November 2004, claimed Williams had stolen the car from him.

At the trial Williams admitted to being part of a gang called the Twenty-eights who targeted rival dealers.

After the theft there was a series of phone calls between him and Asbury.

CCTV footage and mobile phone records put Asbury at the scene of the shooting, but police do not believe he pulled the trigger.

POLICE are still hunting for the killers of Sabina Rizvi, who was described as a clever girl who wanted to prove she could stand on her feet.

Sabina Rizvi was a clever girl making a name for herself as a music promoter, according to her proud mother Iffat.

Mrs Rizvi, who also has two sons, says her daughter was determined to be independent and make a success of her life.

She moved out of the family home in Mitchum, Surrey, and went to stay with a family friend in Abbey Wood, to prove she could stand on her own feet.

This was how she met Mark Williams.

Former senior social worker Mrs Rizvi is adamant Sabina did not know at first he was a drug dealer.

She says at the time of her death, Sabina was trying to distance herself from Williams and had moved back to the family home.

Sabina had borrowed £15,000 from her mother to take over a mobile phone shop in Greenwich, but called to say she wanted to use the money to buy a car instead.

Mrs Rizvi says despite telling Sabina not to, her daughter later called to say she had bought the Audi TT sports car through Williams.

She said: "Sabina was so excited and so happy."

One of her brothers advised her to have the car checked by police.

It was then Sabina discovered the claim by Asbury that the car had been stolen and he wanted it back.

The night she died, Sabina had gone to Bexleyheath police station and waited all evening to give a statement.

Mrs Rizvi said: "I wanted to go with her, but she said no'.

"I called her several times during the evening but she said everything was fine.

"Williams brought the car to the police station and was arrested.

"I told Sabina to come home but she said she would wait while the police checked the Audi.

"The last time I spoke to her was at 2.07am when she said she was cold and tired and wanted to come home."

Mrs Rizvi called a family friend in Abbey Wood and he went to Bexleyheath to collect Sabina.

She and the friend continued to try and call Sabina over the next couple of hours but could get no reply.

The friend went to several police stations, but could not find Sabina and returned home at 4am.

Worried Sabina had not come home, Mrs Rizvi was about to leave for work when the police arrived to break the news her daughter was dead.

• Mrs Rizvi has set up a trust in her daughter's name. Through STARR, Sabina's Trust Against Revolvers and Racism, she hopes to talk to young people about the dangers of getting involved with guns.

MUM APPEALS FOR HELP

THE murder of Sabina Rizvi had a profound effect on her family.

Months after her death, her father Berwaiz was diagnosed with cancer and then so was her mother Iffat.

She said: "Sabina was the apple of her father's eye."

Mr Rizvi died the day before the start of the trial of Paul Asbury for the murder of his daughter.

Mrs Rizvi survived her illness and attended Asbury's trial every day with her sons Soni and Zshan.

They have appealed for anyone who knows anything about Sabina's death to come forward.

She said: "There are people who know who took my daughter's life. I would urge them to come forward and speak.

"As a society we complain there is so much crime, but when something happens and people know who committed it, they do not come forward."

Mrs Rizvi added: "I just cannot believe people will not come forward with any little bit of information or anything they have heard. Something little can grow into something bigger.

"They will be doing the right thing by the community and the right thing by Sabina who cannot speak for herself anymore.

"No one has the right to take someone else's life, to be judge, jury and executioner."

£20,000 reward to catch murderers

DETECTIVE Inspector David Morgan from the Serious Crime Directorate is heading the hunt for Sabina's killers.

The Met Police have put up a £20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of those responsible.

Police say two cars tracked Sabina and Williams as they left Bexleyheath police station and drove down Watling Street.

One was a silver/blue Ford Mondeo, registration number AD51 OLT, which had been stolen five months earlier during an aggravated burglary in Blackheath.

It was found burnt out in Denton Road, off Dartford Heath, next to the A2, 30 minutes after the shooting. Two men were seen running away, across a footbridge over the A2.

The police are asking:

• Did you see the car in Bexleyheath that morning?

• Do you remember seeing the car on the heath?

• Did you see the two men or where they ran to?

• Did you see anyone picking up two men near the heath at about 3am on March 20 2003?

• Do you know where the car was kept for the five months after it was stolen?

The second car was a red Vauxhall Astra registration number T407 UBL belonging to Asbury.

It was found burnt out outside Asbury's Thamesmead home 23 hours after the shooting.

Police want to know:

• Did you see the Astra on the morning of the shooting?

• Were you in Bexleyheath near the police station or in Watling Street around 2am?

• Did you see or hear anyone behaving suspiciously?

The pair were shot with a 9mm automatic which has never been recovered.

• Do you know anything about the gun or where it is?

If you know about the shooting of Sabina Rizvi and Mark Williams, call 020 8721 4868 in strict confidence or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

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