A LABOUR mayor helped hide evidence when her son was arrested on suspicion of raping a 15-year-old girl, a court heard.
Naheed Ejaz, 61, is accused of allowing her “mother’s love for a son to stretch to criminality” by refusing to let police in when they came to arrest him.
Ejaz, who had been Mayor of Bracknell, Berkshire, delayed officers entering the home for “some time”, jurors were told.
The court heard she also spoke to her son Diwan Khan in Urdu to “assist” him in hiding his phone, which had a video on it of the alleged sex attack.
Ejaz has pleaded not guilty to perverting the course of justice, while Khan denies rape.
The trial was told Khan – who was her Consort of the Mayor – allegedly raped a 15-year-old girl in June 2024 after she “blacked out” from MDMA he put in vodka for her to drink.
COURT FIGHT
Dad suing for £1m after he ‘lost leg when boss gave him Covid at Wetherspoons’
BRAZEN ASSAULT
Moment thug throws woman to floor & makes off with her bag in broad daylight
Winchester Crown Court heard she woke up in the backseat of his car with no clothes on and she could not remember what had happened.
Khan then allegedly showed her a video he took of him having sex with her as well as choking and slapping her in the face.
He told the girl he would show her mum the video if she said anything and that she “belonged” to him, it was said.
Khan is also accused of threatening to “come to her house and slit her throat” if she revealed the alleged sex attack.
In her police interview, she said that she did not want to have sex with him and that watching the video made her feel “sick” and “scared”.
On September 12, 2024, police arrived at the family home in Bracknell in the early hours of the morning to arrest Khan.
Prosecutor Ed Wylde said: “When the police came to arrest Mr Khan, [Ejaz] delayed opening the door and helped him hide his mobile phone.
“That mobile phone was likely to have material that would be evidence in Mr Khan’s case.”
The court heard Khan eventually gave a phone to the police but it was not the one with the video on it.
Mr Wylde continued: “We say that she was aware that this was not the phone the police were looking for, assisting Mr Khan in the concealment of the mobile phone.
“We say they were speaking in Urdu in order that the police wouldn’t know what they were talking about.
“We say that she assisted her son.
“We have a pretty good idea that it is the phone with the video on it.
“We can’t be sure that Ms Ejaz had any clear idea of the trouble he was in at that time, but a mother’s love for her son will stretch some way, and in this case it stretched into criminality.”
Ejaz was Mayor of Bracknell Forest for 2023 but is understood to have stepped down in September 2024.
The jury were told Khan has pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice by hiding the mobile phone from the police.
In his police interview, he claimed he met the girl on a dating app called Plenty of Fish and said he thought she was 24 years old.
The trial continues.