A man who was caught on CCTV dragging his ex-wife’s body in a suitcase has been jailed for her murder.
Ashwin Daudia, 51, strangled Kiran Daudia and stuffed her remains into the luggage before dumping it in an alley behind bins.
He told Leicester Crown Court he had “lost control” and acted in self-defence when Kiran attacked him, but jurors rejected this version of events.
Daudia was ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years behind bars.
Kiran’s body was discovered on 17 January 2017, a day after she was killed.
In a statement, Kiran’s family said they “cannot even begin to describe the loss and emptiness in our heart”.
“Her perpetual smile will be missed everyday of our lives by everyone who knew her. Kiran had lots of dreams and aspirations which were untimely taken away by this demonic act,” they said.
“Life without her will never be the same.”
The trial heard how Kiran and Daudia had an arranged marriage in India in 1988 and divorced in 2014.
They continued to live together, but Daudia, of Lyme Road, Leicester, was meant to move out on the day of Kiran’s death, as the house had been sold to her sister.
Daudia, who worked for engineering company Nylacast, told the court he was sleeping upstairs when Kiran woke him up and started attacking him.
He claimed he put one of his hands over her mouth to stop her talking, then put both hands around her throat.
But the prosecution argued he had invented this story to protect himself – and that he attacked his ex-wife downstairs when she came in from work.
Daudia told the court he wrapped his ex-wife’s scarf around a banister upstairs, then pushed her “so she was like hung” with her legs going down the stairs.
However, the prosecution argued she died from strangulation because he tightly pulled the ends of the scarf while it was around her neck.
The court heard that Kiran was reported missing by her family on 16 January when she didn’t return home after leaving work.
Police attended the home address and spoke to Daudia, who claimed he hadn’t seen her.
CCTV captured Daudia dragging the suitcase down Lyme Road, where their house was, then around the corner onto Devana Road.
Police received a call the following morning from a member of the public who had found the suitcase abandoned in their back yard.
Det Srg Mark Wesley, who was part of the investigation team, said: “Through his own selfish, cowardly actions Daudia has ripped this family apart, leaving two doting sons without a mother and other family members distraught and struggling to get over the pain and heartache he has caused.”
Source: bbc.co.uk
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