Sobia Yousef Slit Her Own Throat In Asda
A mother-of-three suffering from a mental breakdown slit her own throat in the middle of a supermarket.
Sobia Yousef, 36, who had been suffering from severe depression and psychotic episodes following the death of her daughter, horrified shoppers when she plunged a knife she had picked up from the store’s shelf into her throat.
Bradford Coroner’s Court heard that Sobia had arrived at her local Asda store in Shipley, West Yorkshire, at 8.35am on the morning of the incident which left her dead, having sent her two remaining children to school.
The inquest was told that Sobia’s daughter, Meweesh Mahmood, was hospitalised in July 2013 having been suffering from severe complications resultant of a congenital heart defect.
Sobia, who believed that her daughter was suffering from the results of black magic, had alarmed workers at Leeds General Infirmary when she said that she could see cats in the room.
The inquest heard that, during the course of her illness, Sobia had become withdrawn from her family members and would refuse to see them or speak to them.
By the end of July, Sobia had been diagnosed with severe depression with psychotic elements and was sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
He explained that, following Meweesh’s death, Sobia piled her daughter’s clothes on the cooker and turned on all the hobs.
Sobia’s husband, Tariq Mahmood, who had been asleep upstairs at the time, awoke to the smell of smoke and came downstairs to find the fire. He managed to stop any further damage from occuring by throwing the burning clothes out into the garden.
Sobia’s brother, Imitaz Ali, said in a statement to the court that his sister had made several irrational decisions during her depression.
He said: “My sister was doing things that were very unusual. She took all her jewellery and put it in a handkerchief, tied it together and threw it into a mosque letterbox.
“At the time the mosque was closed and so her aunties had to go find the man with the key to get it back.
“She also withdrew £2,000 from the bank, went to Western Union and sent it to Pakistan saying it was for ‘the poor people’.
“Sobia would stand out in the rain for hours and we were worried that she might hurt herself accidentally.”
Imtiaz also described the issues he faced with health workers when he tried to get Sobia the support she needed, saying, “I spoke to doctors and support workers at Lynfield Mount Hospital who said it wasn’t their problem because she had been discharged.
“One support worker who took her to the park said she was improving, but she was not improving, she was getting worse.
“Everybody who lived in the street knew she was poorly. She would stand out on the street corner for hours on end.”
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