Raneem Oudeh, 22, was murdered outside her mother’s home in Solihull, West Midlands, shortly after midnight on 27 August 2018. She was killed along with her mother Khowla Saleem, 49, by her ex-partner Janbaz Tarin, then 21, who the jury heard had once carved her name into his arm with a razor. On her wedding day, he is said to have told her: “In our culture we don’t have divorce… the day you leave, I will kill you.” At the inquests into the two women’s deaths which continued at Birmingham and Solihull Coroner’s Court today, an 11-member jury heard evidence of Ms Oudeh and Tarin’s relationship from her aunt, Nour Norris. Senior Coroner Louise Hunt also told jurors they will hear evidence about West Midlands Police’s response to several calls Ms Oudeh made to the force about her abusive partner before her death. Raneem Oudeh (pictured), 22, and her mother Khaola Saleem, 49, were murdered by Janbaz Tarin, then 21, in Solihull, West Midlands, on 27 August 2018. In her evidence, Ms Norris told how Raneem had fled the war in Syria to join her mother and family who were already living in the UK in 2014. She said that after she arrived, her “ambitious” niece enrolled at Solihull College. It was in the English study group that he first met classmate Tarin. Ms Norris described how Tarin would “buy her presents, do things for her”. “At first she thought it was just a friendship, then it led to the stalking, the suffering,” he said. “She had to report him to the college to leave her alone. He was expelled (from college).” Later, through her family, Ms Norris told how Ms Oudeh “met a man” whom she then married, becoming pregnant with her child. However, this relationship failed before the birth and she ended up having the baby “on her own”. An inquest heard Ms Oudeh feared she had reported abuse from Tarin (pictured) because she was worried social services would take her child away “She felt very vulnerable,” Ms Norris said. By the summer of 2016, Ms Oudeh was “down, upset – a single mother in her 20s” and still being “stalked” by Tarin, Ms Norris added. After her niece moved into a flat in Kingshurst Road, Solihull, Tarin “slowly, gradually” persuaded Mrs Oudeh to rekindle their relationship. She claimed Taryn told her niece “this time you’re mine”. On April 2, 2017, Tarin and Ms Oudeh had an Islamic wedding, but Ms Norris said the extended family sensed something was wrong. Shortly after the wedding, Ms Oudeh appeared “distressed” as she told her aunt about a comment Tarin made to his new wife as they were signing the marriage papers. “He turned to her and whispered in her ears ‘in our culture, we don’t have divorce, now you are my wife, the day you leave, I will kill you,’” Ms Norris said. After the marriage, Ms Norris said: “He (Tarrin) became very controlling and became quite obsessive that he was his.” He added: “She wanted to dress and talk a certain way, share the bedroom a certain way.” The marriage began to fall apart again after Taryn traveled to Afghanistan in late 2017, where it emerged he had another wife and three children – with a fourth on the way. Ms Oudeh’s mother, Khaola Saleem (pictured), 49, died with her daughter when Tarin opened fire on them outside her home in Solihull, West Midlands, on 27 August 2018 In January 2018, Ms Oudeh told him the relationship was over, but he started stalking her again and “would sleep in the car outside her house for days”, Ms Norris said. On one occasion, he sent Ms Norris a picture of his left hand on Facebook, in which he had used a ‘razor’ to carve Raneem’s name. Ms Oudeh briefly got back with Tarin, but in April 2018 she wanted to get rid of him for good – at which point things “really escalated”. Ms Norris claimed her niece tried to be direct with Tarin because her repeated calls to the police resulted in little action, with visits from social workers leaving her “fearful” her child would be taken away. “She called the police many times in the past and … they didn’t listen to her properly and didn’t take her seriously, or blamed her,” he said. “She’ll be told ‘you’re wasting our time, you’ve got to deal with it yourself, kick it out – you can’t keep calling us. Ask him to leave.” Ms Norris also told how Ms Oudeh was “worried about her baby” and about social service involvement. “She wanted to work with social workers but was afraid if she told them everything they would take the baby away,” Ms Norris claimed. In August 2018, Ms Oudeh applied for a non-molestation order, but on the evening of August 26, Tarin followed Ms Saleem and Ms Oudeh to the Rotana Shisha Lounge. Taryn “slapped” her into the restaurant and then followed them as they left. Ms Hunt told jurors: “The police were called – their response, you will hear, was delayed due to a firearms incident. “It was shortly after midnight that Janbaz Tarin murdered Raneem and Khowla outside her address. “He was subsequently convicted of both murders.” The coroner told jurors they will go through seven rounds of calls Ms Oudeh made to the police between April and August 2018 to understand “how the police responded and also how other agencies reacted”. The investigation continues.
