A woman was left for dead after her husband beat her with a stick and smothered her with a pillow in a surprise attack in her bedroom, a court has heard.

Altaf Mahmood has gone on trial at Teesside Crown Court accused of attempting to murder his wife in June last year.

The court heard the 60-year-old travelled to Yasmin Shahid’s home in North Ormesby, Middlesbrough, from Coventry to carry out the brutal attack.

Ms Shahid suffered several blows to her head as her husband beat her with a stick before leaving her bleeding on the floor. She was left to helplessly walk the quiet streets in the middle of the night to seek help.

At the opening of the trial on Monday, the prosecution said Mahmood’s motivation to murder his spouse was because she had left him and that he had “carefully and meticulously” planned every step of the vicious attack.

Read more: LIVE - Man accused of attempting to murder wife in Middlesbrough

Prosecutor Susan Hirst said Ms Shahid moved to Teesside to start a new life but was visited by Mahmood several times either unannounced or in ill health.  

On a second visit, Mahmood said the camera he had installed above her bedroom door was a ‘light box’ gift which displayed colourful lights.

“He fixed it to the wall above the door to her bedroom, and she thought this was rather strange as the coloured lights seemed to be something that a child would have rather than an adult,” prosecutor Ms Hirst told the court.  

But over two weeks later, Ms Shahid realised Mahmood had installed the camera to provide 24-hour surveillance of the bedroom, meaning he could watch her sleep every night. She teared the camera off the wall and posted it back to him.

The next time Ms Shahid would hear from Mahmood was on June 27 at around 2.30am when she saw a man dressed “from head to toe” in black and wearing a face mask, the court heard.

“She immediately began to scream but he approached her and hit her on both sides of her head with a wooden stick,” Ms Hirst said.  

“She fell backwards onto her bed and the man took a pillow and proceeded to try and suffocate her. He used both of his hands to hold it over her face.

“Fortunately, Yasmin Shahid used all her strength to fight the attacker. She manged to get the pillow off her mouth, and she pulled the mask from the man’s face. She then saw that it was her husband who had been trying to suffocate her.”

Prosecutor Ms Hirst told the jury that Mahmood then left Ms Shahid on the floor of her home without a phone and only a wet towel for her injuries. In evidence shown in court, Ms Shahid said: “I was lying on the floor and I was praying to god: 'please help me'.

"I prayed so hard to god to give me the strength. Every time I tried to get up I fell straight back down."

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Ms Shahid tried banging on the wall inside in the hope her neighbour would hear and come to her assistance.

But it took multiple efforts of walking the nearby streets of her home until she found someone to call the police, the court heard. Ms Shahid was then taken to hospital for treatment of her injuries, which included a 5cm long laceration to her head and a cut to her lip. 

Prosecutor Susan Hirst said police arrested Mahmood in Coventry, where he had returned following the attack, and officers uncovered Mahmood's plan to kill his wife. 

"It soon became clear that the defendant’s actions had been carefully and meticulously planned with a view to killing his wife, evading detection and then allowing himself sufficient time to leave the country," Ms Hirst said. 

The trial was told that Mahmood admits that he hit her over the head three times with a piece of wood, but that he did not intend to kill her.

In summarising Mahmood’s actions, Ms Hirst added: "It is the prosecution case that he did this deliberately to try and avoid detection by police, knowing that he was going to kill his wife.

"This was not an offence committed on the spur of the moment. This was not a man merely attempting to assault his wife, he had a longer term aim in mind."

The trial continues.

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