The Teenager Had Tried To Escape An Arranged Marriage By Eloping with Her Lover
A teenager, who tried to escape an arranged marriage by eloping with her lover, had her throat cut by the man she was betrothed to. 17-year-old Darshana Narotam along with her 22-year-old boyfriend Prashant Govinde and an accompanying 15 year old, were all injured in the violent attack.
The attacker, 26-year-old Bharat Soma, also stabbed Govinde in the neck and slashed his cheek in front of shocked onlookers.
Soma, who denies attempted murder, reportedly shouted, “My wife, my wife!” as he carried out the knife attack.
During the incident the officer asked, “Who’s done this to you?”
Narotam replied, “Him, him.”
The officer replied, “Is it the chap in the (police) car?
“My mum and dad trying to force me to marry with that guy, but I haven’t married with him.”
An officer asked, “So a forced marriage with that guy that’s attacked you?”
“Yeah,” she replied.
Narotam’s mother Parvati Natu and father Narotam Deugi were visibly tearful upon watching the harrowing video, the judge even asked the mother if she wished to be escorted out of the courtroom.
Both parents however are accused of assaulting and falsely imprisoning their daughter in her bedroom weeks before the wedding, to prevent her from seeing her boyfriend.
They were persistent in having her marry Soma and not Govinde whom she had been secretly dating from the age of 15. The parents denied these accusations.
Prashant, giving evidence at Leicester Crown Court from behind a screen, recounted the bloody event.
“I heard a scream.I saw Darshana was being held by the neck by someone.
“I tried to pull him from behind and then I was on the floor and holding that person on the ground.
“He was struggling as I was trying to hold him down.
“I saw Darshana was bleeding and I was shocked.
“I didn’t realise he’d harmed me.
“I saw a knife in his hand and told Darshana ‘he’s holding a knife, take it away or it will harm us more.’
“He was moving the knife haphazardly and I realised he had come to kill us.
“I was shouting ‘please somebody call the police.’
“Darshana took the knife and threw it; it was right next to us.
“I thought if he had this knife again he’d try to hurt us again.
“I did my best to protect Darshana and (the 15-year-old boy) and held him down.
“I wanted to see his face. I was trying to uncover his face.”
Prosecutor Adrienne Lucking asked Prashant, “When did you realise you were injured.”
He replied, “When the police arrived.”
Prashant said the assailant was “screaming and swearing” whilst Darshana was crying.
Narotam’s three uncles and cousin have also been apprehended for reportedly kidnapping Govinde’s father, in an attempt to find the whereabouts of Narotam who fled with her boyfriend from Wembley to Leicester. They denied all charges.
26-year-old Soma carried out the attack after receiving information on the couple’s whereabouts from a friend, he attacked them with a three-and-a-half inch kitchen paring-knife.
Adrienne Lucking, QC, prosecuting told the court, “He walked up behind the couple and grabbed Darshana from behind and cut her throat.
“Prashant tried to protect her but Soma tried to kill him, stabbing him though the neck and slashing his cheek.
“The 15-year-old with them, who tried to intervene, was cut and tendons in his hand were severed.”
“He took revenge on the perceived insult to his honour and reputation, by attempting to kill them both.”
All victims were treated in hospital and survived.
The trial continues.
