A thug who threw a female deaf accountant out of an overcrowded car before punching her in the neck and leaving her to die in the street has today been found guilty of her murder.
Killer Duane Owusu, nicknamed Nasty, launched the vicious assault on 27-year-old Zahwa Mukhtar in August last year after attending a rave in Stoke Newington, north London.
The 36-year-old chucked the aspiring accountant, whom he had only met that night, out of a crammed Mercedes.
He kicked at her face as she sat on the pavement before delivering the fatal punch after she fell to the floor and hit her head, with what the prosecution described as a 'sickening thud'.
Owusu then got back into the car and left her dying on the ground.
A jury at the Old Bailey today found him guilty of murdering Ms Mukhtar after deliberating for nearly 12 hours.
There was silence in court from the defendant and the victim's family as the guilty verdict was delivered.
Judge Richard Marks KC remanded Owusu into custody to be sentenced next Thursday.
Scotland Yard described Owusu as a 'remorseless killer' in a statement released following the verdict.
Trainee accountant Ms Mukhtar was punched in the neck and left to die in the street after being thrown out of an overcrowded Mercedes.
Detective Chief Inspector Phil Clarke, from Specialist Crime North, said: 'Our thoughts today are with Zahwa's family, who have demonstrated great dignity and patience after losing their daughter in such horrendous circumstances.'
'CCTV footage collected by the investigation team painted a damning picture of Owusu's guilt.
'The evidence revealed him to be a remorseless killer, who acted with callous disregard towards his victim.'
Jurors were not told that Owusu was jailed for eight years in 2010 for being the getaway driver in a botched robbery in which a Matalan shop manager was fatally stabbed.
Ms Mukhtar had never met Owusu before she came across his group in the early hours of August 16 last year and inhaled laughing gas balloons with them.
When they decided to return home to Dagenham, she had got into the already overcrowded car.
On the journey, she had argued with one of Owusu's female friends, pulled her hair and threatened to stab someone, jurors were told.
Owusu grabbed her phone and threw it out of the car before chucking out Ms Mukhtar and aiming two kicks at her face as she sat on the pavement, the prosecution said.
When she got up, Owusu punched her in the neck, causing her to fall on to the ground, the court was told.
The sickening attack was captured on CCTV positioned outside a care home on Chadwell Heath Lane, Romford, and witnessed by Owusu's horrified friends.
Witness Paige Allen described Ms Mukhtar pleading with Owusu to stop before he landed the fatal blow.
She told jurors: 'He was just rage. He looked like a monster. His behaviour was just wrong. She just fell. Just fell backwards.
'I went to help her but he screamed at me to get in the car.'
On leaving the scene in Chadwell Heath, Owusu and his group were stopped and searched by police a short distance away.
They were detained for around 50 minutes before officers investigated reports from the public of a woman on the pavement down the road.
Ms Mukhtar, who worked as a finance assistant at the Young Vic Theatre in London, was found unresponsive at 5.31am.
Despite the efforts of police and paramedics at the scene, she was pronounced dead at 6.21am, having suffered a fractured skull and brain injury.
Owusu had denied punching Ms Mukhtar and claimed he only pushed her away from the car to 'de-escalate' the situation.
Giving evidence, Owusu said: 'I did not believe she was hurt severely or badly.'
He told jurors he had been 'traumatised' by what happened and never meant to harm her.
He said he fell to his knees and prayed she was okay when he found out police wanted to speak to him.
He denied murder and the alternative charge of manslaughter.
His trial was halted after Ms Mukhtar’s brother Abas Mukhtar became overcome by anger and lunged at the defendant in the witness box, leaving jurors ‘extremely shaken up’.
Fining the 28-year-old plumber £1,000 for contempt of court, Judge Marks said: ‘It was an ugly and sustained attempt at assault.
‘It goes without saying, having seen the incident at close quarters I was absolutely appalled by the incident.
‘I have never in all my years at the bar seen anything like it.’