Naheed Ejaz, 61, who recently completed her one-year term as mayor, allegedly refused police entry into her home on the morning of September 12, 2024, when officers came to arrest her son, Diwan Khan, 41. The prosecution told Winchester Crown Court that Ejaz spoke to Khan in Urdu, assisting him in hiding a mobile phone reportedly containing a video of the alleged attack.
Prosecutor Ed Wylde said: “A mother’s love for her son will stretch some way, and in this case it stretched into criminality.”
Khan, who served as the mayor’s consort during Ejaz’s time in office, is accused of giving the girl vodka laced with MDMA and raping her after she lost consciousness. The teenager reportedly woke up naked in the back seat of his car and later received a threatening message from Khan claiming she “belonged” to him and that he would show the video to her mother if she spoke out.
During her police interview, the girl said Khan had claimed to be the mayor’s consort and threatened to “slit her throat” if she disclosed the assault.
Ejaz and Khan are being tried together. Ejaz denies perverting the course of justice, while Khan denies rape but has admitted perverting the course of justice by hiding a mobile phone from the police.
Ejaz, the borough’s first Pakistani Muslim mayor, served from May 2023 to May 2024 and resigned as a councillor in October 2024. Khan provided a phone to the police, but it did not contain the alleged video, according to Wylde. He added that the pair spoke in Urdu during the incident, preventing officers from understanding what was being said.
The court heard that the alleged victim and a friend had met a man who offered to drive them around. Khan allegedly added MDMA to their vodka, asked the girls to touch him, and then drove the 15-year-old to his home, where the alleged assault took place.
Khan has told police he met the girl via a dating app and believed she was 24, while her profile stated she was 19. The prosecution said Khan deliberately targeted the teenager because her youthful defiance and substance use made her less likely to be believed.
The trial at Winchester Crown Court continues.
