An Iranian mother and father forced their daughter to go to the doctor for a ‘virginity test’ after finding out about her secret boyfriend.

Mitra Eidiani, 42, and Ali Safaraei, 56, who live in Wandsworth, also allegedly threatened to kill their daughter Sophia Safaraei and her boyfriend, Bailey Marshall-Telfer, with Eidiani saying: ‘You have seen what our people do on the news’, a jury heard.

Kingston Crown Court heard how Sophia, 18, met Bailey when they were working at Sports Direct and they started a secret relationship in January this year, where they would often meet at her home while her parents were out.

Sophia Safaraei, 18, was forced to go to the doctors for a ‘virginity test’ after her parents discovered her secret boyfriend (Picture: Kershaw / SWNS.com)

David Povall, prosecuting, said Eidiani discovered the relationship after she came home unexpectedly while Mr Marshall-Telfer was at their house.




He initially tried to climb from a bathroom window but she discovered some of his belongings, including a pair of headphones.

Mr Marshall-Telfer told the court he was confronted by Eidiani at Sports Direct and was told: ”Don’t come near my daughter again. I don’t want you communicating with her or anything like that.’

‘She went on to say that she is a Muslim and her husband is a Muslim and “you have seen what our people do on the news and stuff, we’re dangerous people, be careful”.’

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Asked by Mr Povall what else Eidiani said, he added: ‘That her husband was more angry than she was and he was going to kill me and that there would be a shadow around me and they might come back the next day with someone else.

‘I was really quite scared, nervous, it shook me a bit when I was trying to do my job.

‘I believe I was just saying ‘alright’ most of the time because I was not trying to do anything to make her more angry or say anything else or create a scene in the store.’

Mr Marshall-Telfer said Sarafaei arrived ten to fifteen minutes after his wife and repeated the threats.

He said: ‘He came up to me and was like, was I the one that was in his house?

‘I was like yes, I made a big mistake and I apologise. He didn’t really address the apology.

Safaraei and Eidiani, both of Clapham, south London, deny two counts of controlling or coercive behaviour and one count of making a threat to kill. (Picture: Getty)

‘He just kept asking me what had happened in there and that he had CCTV in his house just to, I guess, play mind games so I would say what happened.

‘He said he was going to keep coming back and at the right place and at the right time that he would kill me.’

Mr Marshall-Telfer was caught at Sophia’s house days earlier when her mother came home unexpectedly, the jury heard.

He said after the incident, Sophia also sent him a message about her parents forcing her to have a ‘virginity test’ at a GP clinic.

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The message said ‘that her parents were trying to get her examined at the GP and that they were going to get her to tell lies to get me in trouble’, he said.

Mr Povall asked: ‘Do you remember what lies?’

Mr Marshall-Telfer said: ‘I think it was along the lines of rape.’



Eidiani wept as Sophia told the jury: ‘We panicked because we didn’t expect it to happen so I had no choice but to tell him to go on the roof.

‘We were both scared, we didn’t know what to expect and obviously it would be a shock for my mum. She did tell him not to come back and we should not have contact anymore.

‘She did break his headphones and Bailey was shocked when he saw them.’

Sophia told jurors: ‘I did get threatened – that if I didn’t go [get checked at the doctors], stuff like I can get killed.

The family went together to a doctor, but the GP declined to carry out the check.

Mr Povall added: ‘This led to Ali Safaraei coming into the consultation room himself in order to see if this could be made to happen.

‘The doctor was adamant, rightly, and in due course the family left without Sophia having been violated in this way.’

But when the family returned home from the doctor, her mum became ‘extremely angry’ and bit Sophia, the jury heard.

Mr Povall said: ‘Both parents were pushing her around. Sophia said she was going to leave home and went up to her bedroom.

‘But her father came up, this time holding a knife from the kitchen and a pair of scissors.’

Speaking from behind a screen, Sophia told jurors: ‘My father then came into my room armed with a big kitchen knife and said you have to get checked.’


She added: ‘They were saying if I’m a virgin why can’t you prove it? What are you scared of?’

A photograph of a large yellow bruise on her forearm, allegedly caused by the bite, was shown to the jury.

In the following days, the parents made life ‘extremely unpleasant’ for Sophia and Mr Marshall-Telfer, Mr Povall said.

He said: ‘She was called a prostitute, her father threatened to kill both her and Bailey. She was told she was disowned, it was suggested she might be sent back to Iran to marry a cousin.

Sophia reported the alleged abuse on May 18 at Wimbledon police station.

Safaraei and Eidiani, both of Clapham, south London, deny two counts of controlling or coercive behaviour and one count of making a threat to kill.

Eidiani also denies one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Eidiani pleaded guilty to one count of criminal damage, related to the headphones, at an earlier hearing.

Parveen Mansoor, representing Safaraei, told the court he is not a Muslim and ‘would have been fine’ about his daughter having a boyfriend.

The trial continues.

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