Naman Shrestha
The episode titled ‘The Tragedy of Ayesha Ali’ of Discovery+’s ‘Deadliest Mums & Dads’ profiles the heart-wrenching murder case of 8-year-old Ayesha Ali who was found dead in her East London home, where her mother attempted suicide at the same time. When the detectives launched an investigation to get to the bottom of the mysterious murder case, they uncovered some twisted web of manipulation and lies, leading to the tragic demise of Ayesha.
Ayesha Ali Was Found Dead With Multiple Injuries in Her Residence
A woman of Bangladeshi origin, Polly Chowdhury was born in 1979 and grew up in the vibrant neighborhood of Hampstead in London, England. In the year 1996, her paths crossed with Afsar Ali. At the time, 17-year-old Polly was working as a legal secretary in a law firm. As Polly and Afsar began spending more time with each other, they fell in love and eventually tied the knot. In their marital journey, the two welcomed three children — two daughters and a son, including Ayesha Ali. Eventually, Polly and Afsar built up a home for themselves and their kids in Chadwell Heath in East London.
Ayesha was a bright and loving child with a real zest for life. Although she was young, her father, Afsar, stated that she was quite passionate about helping those who needed it the most. Unfortunately, a massive tragedy befell the family in 2013 and shattered their steady lives. On the fateful morning of August 29, 2013, the authorities received a call wherein the person reported discovering a severely injured Polly in the bathroom alongside the death of the latter’s daughter, Ayesha Ali. When the authorities rushed to Polly and Ali’s residence at Broomfield Road in Chadwell Heath, they were shocked to find the “cold and stiff” body of an 8-year-old Ayesha lying in her bedroom.
Though the paramedics tried their best to revive the young girl, the efforts were in vain, as she was already dead. Meanwhile, 33-year-old Polly, who had tried to kill herself by drowning in the bath, was rushed to the hospital. Upon further inspection of the scene, the police found suicide notes penned by Polly. According to Ayesha’s autopsy reports, the 8-year-old suffered about 40-50 injuries on her body, including a bite mark as well as carpet burns. It confirmed her cause of death as blunt force trauma in the head.
A Game of Manipulation and Deceit Took the Life of Ayesha Ali
When the investigators were done collecting pieces of evidence from the crime scene, they began the interrogation process. Upon questioning the guardians and loved ones of Ayesha Ali, the police found out about the relationship between her mother, Polly, and a woman named Kiki Muddar, whom she met in 2007 when the former moved in next door with her husband, Afsar. With time, Kiki began obsessing over Polly and realized how easily she could be influenced. Just to get closer to her and gain her sympathy, the intrusive neighbor weaved several made-up stories, including having cancer and losing a boyfriend in the London riots.
Polly and Kiki had grown so close over the next four years that even the former’s husband felt uncomfortable with it, so much so that they decided to move to Chadwell Heath just to become distant from Kiki. However, even after this, Kiki showed up at Polly’s and gradually moved into her house, using her fake cancer story to make her understand the situation. She took it a step further by taking Afsar’s spot on the bed next to Polly. As the couple’s marriage deteriorated, they parted ways while Polly and Kiki continued their relationship. Polly then also indulged in a number of online relationships, mainly on Facebook, including with a man named “Jimmy Chowdhury.”
Despite not meeting, this relationship turned into a romantic one. Later on, it turned out to be a fake profile made and used by Kiki Muddar. Through the cover of Jimmy, Kiki, who was diagnosed with borderline narcissistic personality disorder, tried to have sexual relations to manipulate Polly into believing that their relationship was totally heterosexual. Since Polly believed in spiritual things, she somehow had a belief that Jimmy lived within Kiki. But just creating one imaginary individual was not enough, so Kiki came up with a second online character — Skyman.
Ayesha’s mother did not hesitate to believe in Skyman as well, while Kiki used Skyman to hurl a bunch of attacks and abuses towards the little girl. As time passed by, she made Polly believe that Ayesha was a product of the devil and must die. Through Skyman, Kiki manipulated Polly against her daughter by bombarding her with over 40,000 texts, one of which read, “You have no right to ever love or like your evil daughter.” She even went as far as blaming the innocent child for making her fictional cancer worse. Just a month or so before the murder, Kiki talked ill of Ayesha over a recorded phone conversation with one of her friends, threatening to kill her by drowning in the bath.
A few days before the murder occurred, Polly and Kiki teamed up to scare Ayesha by wearing a scary mask. In late August 2013, things got worse when Kiki gave Ayesha a cold bath as a punishment. However, Kiki defended himself by claiming that she was at her parents’ place. However, when the authorities found evidence about Kiki’s fake personas through Jimmy Chowdhury and Skyman, they finally began building a strong case against Kiki as well as Polly, the mother of the young child. After getting released from the hospital, Polly was also arrested and charged with the murder of Ayesba Ali, in October 2023.
Polly Chowdhury and Kiki Muddar Are Serving Their Respective Sentences in a Prison in England
While Kiki and Polly were charged with Ayesha’s murder, both of them denied the charges soon. In light of all the evidence against them, in January 2015, the two stood trial for the same. While the trial was going on, Kiki came up with a written statement, confessing almost all the major lies she told Polly, including the fact that Jimmy was not a real person and she never had any cancer. As the realization of what she had done to her daughter Ayesha Ali dawned on her, Polly fled the court in tears.
At the end of the hearing, Kiki Muddar and Polly Chowdhury got convicted of manslaughter but cleared of murder of the 8-year-old Ayesha Ali. Then, in November 2015, Kiki was sentenced to 18 years in prison, which was reduced to 15 years after the appeal. On the other hand, Polly received a 13-year imprisonment sentence for manslaughter of her own daughter. But later her sentence was also reduced to 10 years from 13 years. Both of them are currently serving their sentences behind bars in a correctional facility in England.
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