Disturbing CCTV footage has emerged showing the man arrested in connection with the death of a Scottish woman allegedly wheeling a suitcase containing her body through the streets of Greece.
The chilling footage reportedly captures Sharif Ahmadzai, 26, hauling a large, black case through the heart of Athens. Clad in a black T-shirt and shorts and carrying a blue rucksack, Ahmadzai allegedly dumped the bag in a derelict building in Kypseli before fleeing the area.
Timeline of events
The deeply unsettling clip appears to document Ahmadzai's movements on July 16, two days prior to the discovery of Elisabeth Jane Ross' body. Elisabeth, also known as Lisa, 38, from Edinburgh, was found dead inside a suitcase by a homeless man in an abandoned building in the district of Kypseli on Saturday, July 18.
Ahmadzai has subsequently been arrested and charged in connection with Lisa's death. According to local media reports, he faces charges of intentional homicide, robbery and weapons offences, reports the Daily Record.
Admission and denial
He reportedly admitted to transporting Lisa's body in the suitcase to officers, but denies murder, according to the Guardian. George Kalliakmanis, the honorary president of the police officers' association in Athens, told the Guardian: "He has admitted to carrying her body in a trolley to the site. Police have CCTV footage of him doing this on the night of 16 July. He has also confessed to withdrawing €10,000 from ATMs using credit cards that belonged to her. But he has denied murder which police do not believe."
The man, a champion boxer originally from Afghanistan, operates a refugee charity in the Greek capital alongside his wife, US-born Alaina Hall, whom he married in 2023. The pair established a ministry supporting refugees in Athens and are thought to have been acquainted with Elisabeth through their charitable work, the Daily Mail reports. They possessed a key to the flat where she was residing – a property owned by their organisation, Love Every Nation Athens.
Investigation details
Preliminary medical findings indicate Elisabeth died from asphyxiation, according to The Times. A post-mortem examination is presently being conducted, with Lisa's official cause of death remaining undetermined pending toxicology results.
Investigators established that Lisa reached Greece in late June and resided at multiple addresses before renting a ground-floor flat in Exarchia. The Daily Mail reports officers stated the accused possessed access to her flat through a set of keys. Lisa was last known to have been in contact with a friend three days prior to being discovered dead. Those close to her grew worried when they kept receiving text messages that seemed out of character with her usual communication style.
Wife's evidence
His wife Alaina is understood to have supplied crucial evidence to the investigation, including a location-sharing application demonstrating her husband's presence at Lisa's flat during the night of 15 July and into 16 July. Following Lisa's identity becoming public knowledge, she reportedly suspected Ahmadzai's involvement and departed their residence with her child.
Alaina is believed to have provided police with a mobile phone and €2,550 in cash that she thought might have been the victim's property. Under interrogation, Ahmadzai is alleged to have claimed he discovered Lisa deceased in the flat's bathroom before putting her body into a suitcase and getting rid of it the next evening.
Further charges and background
However, officers reportedly allege he subsequently confessed to using the victim's mobile phone to pose as her in texts sent to family and friends, while also making withdrawals using her bank cards. A search of the suspect's residence on 1 August revealed a replica Glock-style pistol and a military-style knife, resulting in further weapons charges.
According to Ahmadzai's website, his father, a military commander in Kabul, was fatally shot in a Taliban ambush when he was aged four. His elder brother was abducted by the Taliban five years afterwards. The remainder of his family perished in a suicide car bomb when he was 15, the website states. Ahmadzai travelled to Greece in a small vessel and went on to secure the Greek super lightweight boxing title in March 2023.
He has been referred to the appropriate prosecuting authority to face the charges and is reportedly scheduled to appear before magistrates in Athens on Wednesday.
