HOUSTON – It was the first time Nesreen Beavers spoke in court about the murder of her husband. She spent most of the day on the stand, recounting her strict Muslim upbringing and the fear she felt after marrying a Christian man.
Nesreen Irsan Beavers told jurors she escaped from what she characterized as a household ruled by her father, 62-year-old Ali Irsan.
He is on trial, accused of killing his daughter's husband, Coty Beavers, and her friend Gelareh Bagherzadeh. Prosecutors contend Irsan enlisted his wife and son in the murders because his daughter married a Christian man and felt her friend influenced her move to Christianity.
On the stand, Nesreen Irsan was asked, “Were you ever told what would happen if you did not happen, if you did date or did marry someone, not Sunni Muslim?”
She said her father told her “He said he would kill us both if I got a boyfriend or married.”
Nesreen then talked about how she and Coty had to take numerous precautions for fear of her father finding out where they lived. Fighting tears, Nesreen Irsan then told jurors about the day she came home from work and found her husband shot multiple times in their apartment.
“I tried to wake him up and he wasn’t moving, and he was cold. I just started screaming,” she said.
Convinced of her father's guilt, Nesreen Irsan said the lead detective asked her to call her father to see if he would say anything incriminating.
“I said, 'how could you do this to me?' He said, 'I don’t know you, bye-bye,' and he hung up,” she recalled.
Ali Irsan's wife is expected to testifying against her husband in this trial. On Tuesday, the lead detective in the case will take the stand.