Uber driver who killed his children ‘was perfect dad’

A wife told a court her Uber driver husband who killed their two children before setting fire to the family home was ‘the perfect dad’.

Penil Teklehaimanot, 37, also told a jury how Endris Mohammed, 47, played on an Xbox with their son hours before he smothered him and their daughter.

Mohammed, denies murder and attempted murder but admits he was responsible for the deaths of his son Saros, eight, and six-year-old daughter Leanor.

The court heard the cab driver claimed he smothered son Saros and Leanor, because he had ‘no money’.

But Mrs Teklehaimanot told the jury the family were financially comfortable and described her husband as the ‘perfect dad’.

She said: ‘He was a gentle, quiet man. He’s the man who takes it easy. He took everything easy. He’s not worried about anything.

‘He was the perfect dad. He spent a lot of time with the children and played with them.’

He smothered the children with a petrol-soaked cloth before he set his house on fire in an alleged bid to murder his sleeping wife.

Emergency services rushed to the couple’s home in following a blaze at the property in Handsworth, Birmingham, at around 3.30am on October 28 last year.

The lifeless bodies of the children were dragged outside by their mother who thought they were asleep when they were actually in cardiac arrest.

Saros and Leanor were declared dead at Sandwell General Hospital and Birmingham Children’s Hospital at 4.53am and 4.54am.

Mohammed then drove off in a rented Vauxhall Insignia which he used for work, and was later found 40 miles away in a burning vehicle having tried to kill himself.

Giving evidence from behind a screen at Birmingham Crown Court, Mrs Teklehaimanot, a care worker, described the final hours leading up to the fatal fire.

Mohammed killed son Saros, eight, right, and daughter Leanor, six, left, by smothering them with a petrol stained rag before setting their house on fire

She said she had taken her children to Smyths Toys in Walsall, West Midlands, to pick out a birthday present for Leanor who was due to turn seven on November 1.

She said: ‘On the way back I drove accidentally into a bus lane and was worried I would get a ticket.

‘I told him what had happened. He told me to not worry, they did not take points. Walsall Council would send me a ticket.

‘He said that it’s only £30 [the fine] and that he would pay it for me.

‘He said he would Google it to see if there is a camera where I was. He showed me that he is a caring man. That behaviour was typical of him.

‘I went to bed at around midnight. Leanor was asleep on the sofa, and he was playing on the Xbox with Saros.

‘The next thing, I heard the [fire] alarm on.

‘When I was coming down the stairs I saw the fire while I was on the stairs. The fire was in the front door, the main door.

‘When I saw the fire, I was calling for him again and again. When I saw his car wasn’t on the drive, I thought that he had gone to work.

‘I do not remember how I put out the fire.’

Mrs Teklehaimanot said on the day her children died she went to bed with everything normal but then was woken by the fire alarm and saw the flames. Pictured is the house being inspected by forensic officers after the blaze

The court heard how a neighbour rushed to help and asked her about the children inside the burning property.

Mrs Teklehaimanot said: ‘The lady came with me to the living room.

‘I tried to wake them up, but they were not responding. Leaner was asleep on her tummy, but they did not respond to me. So I took Saros and the lady took Leanor.’ 

The court heard the couple temporarily split up for eight months in 2010 after she suspected that he was sleeping with another woman.

Mrs Teklehaimanot said: ‘We were both asylum seekers. We began a relationship with one another around that time in 2006.

‘I received citizenship to this country in 2013. After Leanor’s birth, me and him separated for eight months.

‘I suspected him he was sleeping with another women. I asked if he was sleeping with other women. He denied it.’

After getting back together, the pair split again in August 2015 when Mohammed demanded that she pay him £50-a-week for looking after the children.

The court heard how a neighbour was woken up at around 3.12am on the day of the incident.

Prosecutor Jonas Hankin QC told how passengers who had travelled with Mohammed in his cab had described him as ‘talkative’ in the lead up to the incident.

One passenger said: ‘He asked me where I was going and what I was going to buy but I did not really engage with him.

‘The driver was chilled, quite happy.’

Another said: ‘The driver asked me what was the quickest route, because there were roadworks, but other than that we did not really talk.

Mohammed, pictured in a court sketch, denies murder and attempted murder on grounds of diminished responsibility

‘When we reached the destination and I got out, he wished me a good night.’

The court heard how Mohammed had set his car on fire in a bid to take his own life by using piles of dry leaves and a disposable lighter.

The taxi driver was found lying outside the vehicle in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs., by passersby who called the emergency services.

He had burns to 15 per cent of his body, and required two operations to treat burns to his scalp, forehead, eyelids, backs of the hands, fingers and backs of the fingers.

Birmingham Crown Court was told how Mohammed was arrested at Nottingham University Hospital on 17 November last year.

During an interview at Great Barr Police Station on January 17, he claimed that the fire was ‘purposely done’.

Mr Hankin QC, prosecuting, said: ‘At about 7am he was seen by passing motorists with hazard lights flashing. He was was seen looking inside the boot.

‘He was then seen lying in the road close to his taxi. He had burns injuries to his hands and his head.

‘He was asked what had happened, but his response could not be properly understood.

‘The emergency services were called by passersby, and water was poured on to his burns.

‘The passenger was heavily burnt, while dry leaves had been piled up in other parts of the vehicle.

‘They was a cigarette lighter in the front of the car. An investigation concluded that he sustained his injuries while in the car.

‘The car was later examined by forensics officers employed by West Midlands Police.

‘No accelerants are found and there was no suicide note.

‘Large deposits of dry leaves had been made to the front passenger seat and to the rear seats of the car.

‘The overall damage to the inside of the car was fairly minor.’

Mohammed had claimed in a police interview that he had poured half of the three litre petrol container on to his vehicle outside the family home.

But James Holder, a fire investigation officer, told the jury how there was no evidence of petrol on the Vauxhall Insignia when he was found at around 7am.

He said: ‘If a significant quantity of petrol had been poured onto the car, I would have expected that residue from that would have been found.’

Emergency services rushed to the couple’s home in following a blaze at the property in Handsworth, Birmingham, at around 3.30am on October 28 last year

Professor Steven Jeffery a consultant plastic and reconstructive surgeon, revealed that 15 per cent of the defendant’s body had sustained surface burns.

He said: ‘Mr Mohammed sustained severe burns to his scalp, forehead and the back of his hands.

‘He required two skin grafting operations for those injuries.

‘Mr Mohammed had also sustained an inhalation injury meaning he had inhaled strong gasses which had damaged his airways.’

Robert Coss, a fire investigation dog handler for Derbyshire Fire Service, said the family home which was doused in petrol was like a ‘sealed box’.

He added: ‘None of the doors or windows were open and there was not air coming into the home.

‘We could never quantify the total amount of petrol that was in the property.

‘The reason why the petrol ultimately did not ignite was because there was too much of it – the amount of petroleum in the air was above the flammable limit.’

He also told how his cocker spaniel Dexter was used to ‘indicate’ areas where he could smell petrol or some form of ignition fluid.

In total there were nine such areas, including around the skirting boards of the entrance hall, some burnt items in the entrance hall, a grey children’s dressing gown, an area within the kitchen sink where the petrol from the large decanter had been poured into smaller one, a leopard print blanket, a pink mattress cover, a quilt, a black towel and a cushion.

The trial will resume on Friday.