Battered Woman Ran Screaming From Brother's Home: Police

By Jack Tobias

Drama erupted on a Bethlehem Township street Monday afternoon when a young woman ran from a home screaming for help, tried to grab onto a passing driver, and then a man chased after her and tried to pull her off the vehicle.

The man fled when informed that police had been called.

Police, meanwhile, were about to learn that the man and woman are brother and sister and that the man attacked and choked his sister, threatened to kill her, and tied her to a bed inside his home at 4107 Juniper Drive, court records say.

Police later arrested the man, Adeel Mazhar, 26, and charged him with unlawful restraint/serious bodily injury, false imprisonment, aggravated assault and simple assault.

According to a criminal complaint, the sister told township Patrolman Andrew R. Keyock the following:

• The sister, 18, has been living in Jersey City, N.J., and “was convinced” to return to Pennsylvania to be with the brother. The name Adeel Mazhar is one of two listed as owners of 4107 Juniper Drive, according to county property records. Under “owner,” the records list Mazhar and the other person with a Jersey City address.

• When the young woman arrived at the house, her brother dragged her down a flight of steps into the basement and choked her until she became unresponsive. While choking her, he placed his hand over her mouth “to smother her.

• Keyock saw a brush burn on her back, bruising under her eyes, bruising to and around her neck, and blood in her right eye.

• She said that while in the basement, her legs and arms were tied with large scarves and then tied to a bed.

• She said she eventually was able to free herself, then ran from the house and screamed for help. Police were called at 2:12 p.m. about a woman screaming for help.

• A “witness” who saw the woman run from the house screaming for help said she still had a “restraint tied to her leg.”

• Another “witness” said he was driving down the street when the woman grabbed him through the window, screamed for help and said he should call police. Then another man – her brother – was trying to pull her from the vehicle. The brother “was informed by witnesses” that police were coming. He fled.

• Police later executed a search warrant for the Juniper Drive house. They found the bed in the basement had scarves still knotted and tied to some of the corners. In an interview with Keyock, the brother admitted to tying his sister to the bed.

Mazhar was arraigned at 9:30 Monday night by on-duty District Judge Todd Strohe of Bangor and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $75,000 bail.