Murrath confesses to murder of lawyer Najeeb

Ahmed Murrath, 29, has confessed in court that he murdered lawyer Ahmed Najeeb by tying him to a chair and stabbing him in the neck - because Najeeb had attempted to have an affair with his girlfriend.

The claims against Murrath and his girlfriend Fathimath Hana, 18, state that upon Najeeb’s arrival at M. Masroora following an invitation by Murrath and Hana, Murrath and Hana tied Najeeb to an office chair, and tied his hands, feet, and mouth using tape.

And on the night of 1 July, 2012, angered by Najeeb’s screams, Murrath murdered Najeeb by stabbing him in the neck using a four-inch knife with a black handle.

Both Murrath and Hana are charged with first degree murder.

According to Murrath, Hana was not involved in Najeeb’s murder; however Hana has confessed in court that she assisted Murrath in killing Najeeb.

At today’s trial, Hana confessed to first degree murder as charged by the state. Murrath also confessed and said that it was he who killed Najeeb.

Murrath said that Najeeb arrived at M. Masroora at around 20:30 on Saturday night following an invitation to discuss issues pertaining to a case to be filed to court.

Murrath had contacted Najeeb three days prior to Saturday as well; however Najeeb was not able to meet them then because he was ‘busy with classes’. Murrath did not know Najeeb before that.

He said that he did not plan Najeeb’s murder; rather, it was prompted by doubts which arose on the night of the murder, about Najeeb having inappropriate relations with his girlfriend.

Murrath had asked Hana if something was going on, and Hana had replied that Najeeb held her hand tightly and refused to let go when they shook hands.

This angered Murrath, and prompted him to fetch a four-inch knife from the kitchen which he used to threaten and kill Najeeb.

“I got a knife from the kitchen, showed it to Najeeb and asked him, ‘do you know what this is?’ He replied, ‘That’s a knife.’ Then I asked him if he had tried to make a move on Hana. He did not reply. So I tied him to the chair. I tied his hands, feet, mouth tightly with tape. Then I heard him screaming early in the morning. I got so angry, that I took the knife and stabbed him in the neck. I only realised what I had done when I saw the blood,” Murrath gave details of the murder.

Murrath said that he was intoxicated when he carried out the act, and that he felt sadness when he saw blood gushing out of Najeeb’s neck, at which point he tried to control it by tying a t-shirt and socks around his neck. But he could not stop the bleeding.

Murrath said that by the following afternoon, blood was still dripping from Najeeb’s neck, so he went down, bought a garbage can, and put Najeeb’s body in the garbage can.

When asked whether he knew who alerted the Police on Najeeb’s murder, he said, “I think it was Hana.”

Hana said at the trial that Najeeb went to M. Masroora at 22:00 on Saturday to discuss a case to be filed to court, and that she was the one to invite him.

She said that she was convinced that Najeeb was about to sexually assault her; and that Najeeb was murdered because she shared this information with her boyfriend. It was also speculated that Najeeb would have a lot of money, since he was a lawyer.

Hana, who used to work as a teacher in her island, said that she assisted Murrath to tie a t-shirt over Najeeb’s mouth, sit him down on a chair, and tie his hands and feet.

They had taken Najeeb’s cash card and pin number, however Hana did not mention if they took money from his account.

According to Hana, Najeeb was murdered between 3:00 and 4:00 on Sunday morning, at which time she was in a state of drunkenness. She found out about the murder when Murrath told her later.