Sharif Ahmadzai, a father of one, will appear in court in Athens on Wednesday on suspicion of murdering Elisabeth-Jane Ross, an aid worker originally from Edinburgh
A young man accused of killing a British charity worker and stuffing her body in a suitcase posted social media rants about “corruption wearing a Christian mask”, it has emerged.
Sharif Ahmadzai, who has allegedly killed Elisabeth-Jane Ross in Athens, converted to Christianity after meeting now wife Alaina Hall through charity work. Together, Ahmadzai and Ms Hall run a charity called Love Every Nation, which supports homeless people and refugees in the Greek capital.
But Ahmadzai, 26, will appear in court there on Wednesday charged with Ms Ross’ murder. Her body was discovered by a homeless man in an abandoned building in Athens on July 18. CCTV footage emerged this week and appears to show Ahmadzai, a champion boxer, wheel through the city centre a suitcase, which it is said contained Ms Ross’ body. Ms Ross, originally from Edinburgh, was an aid worker who met Ahmadzai and his wife through volunteering efforts.
Today, it emerged Ahmadzai had posted a string of rants on Facebook since May last year, taking aim at the actions of Christian NGOs he previously encountered on Lesvos, Greece.
Ahmadzai, who proposed to Ms Hall in 2022 and has a baby son with the woman, also posted photos of t-shirts decorated with the message: “Boycott corrupt NGOs” and told how vetween 2016 and 2019, when he was aged between 16 and 20, he was a volunteer translator in the Lesvos’ Moria refugee camp.
In May, he wrote: “Shame on corruption dressed like charity. Shame on business wearing the name of Christ. In the name of Christ, people are being used. Volunteers, students, churches, and families from America and Europe are giving their time, money, and trust but many of them never stop to ask the most important question: ‘Where is the money really going?’
“When an NGO charges volunteers hundreds of euros for ‘registration,’ takes cash for housing, places 15 or 16 people in apartments meant for one or two, and collects far more than the real cost that is not ministry. That is business. And when vulnerable refugee stories are used to raise money while the real support goes into private pockets, that is not the work of Christ. That is corruption wearing a Christian mask.”
He added: “I have met good people there. I will never deny that. But good volunteers do not automatically make a corrupt system holy.”
Ahmadzai, who was born in Afghanistan and settled in Greece after travelling there as a teenager, was arrested after police collaborated with the UK’s National Crime Agency and Police Scotland.
Ms Ross’s mobile phone – which had been off for days – was suddenly switched on earlier this week with police immediately tracing it to a residence in Athens where Ahmadzai was staying.
George Kalliakmanis, honorary president of the police officers’ association in Athens, said: “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 July 16. He has also confessed to withdrawing €10,000 [£8,500] from ATMs using credit cards that belonged to her. But he has denied murder, which police do not believe.”
Mr Kalliakmanis added that Ahmadzai’s US-born wife Ms Hall, who is understood to have been friends with Ms Ross, was very helpful to detectives. Officers reportedly began investigating Ahmadzai last Thursday after she reported he had been behaving suspiciously and woke to find him missing and checked the location of his phone, which allegedly showed he was at Ms Ross’s apartment on Rethymnou Street in central Athens.
Close relatives of Ahmadzai’s wife Hall have spoken out about the man with whom she has a young son. Her aunt, Leanne Hall, said her pilot brother, Thomas, 65, and sister-in-law Susan, 61, always had grave doubts about their daughter’s choice of husband.
Asked about Ahmadzai, she told the Daily Mail: “I’ve never met him, I’ve only heard about him. But I can tell you my brother and sister-in-law never wanted them to get married.”
Ms Ross had been a regular visitor to Greece over the past seven years, volunteering as an aid worker with NGOs helping refugees, homeless people and other vulnerable groups and had previously volunteered with the One Heart organisation, which specialises in providing medical support to refugees, particularly those from Afghanistan and Iran.
Ms Ross’ aunt, Anne Bangham, said of the 38-year-old woman’s death: “It is horrific. She was such a beautiful, loving and kind young lady. She had not long arrived there to work.”Ms Ross, known as Lisa, has been praised for her “unstoppable passion” for helping those less fortunate. Senior pastors and the congregation at Destiny Church, Edinburgh, where she was a member of the church, have paid tribute to her.
In a statement, senior pastors, Andrew and Sue Owen, said: “Lisa will always be remembered for her unstoppable passion to help those who were less fortunate than herself.
“This passion and deep sense of calling sometimes took her to challenging places. Lisa was determined not to leave this world the same way she found it.”
They added their thoughts and prayers are with Ms Ross’s family, who have lost “a beautiful daughter and sister”.
Ms Ross had also been a member of City on a Hill church, in Edinburgh, for 20 years. Pastor Peter Anderson said she was a precious member of the congregation.
In a video posted on the City on a Hill’s Facebook page, he said: “It’s been a really tough week for our church. We have lost a precious church member, Lisa. She was a member of our church for 20 years, and a very, very precious girl, and it’s a real tragic loss.”
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “Our thoughts are with Elisabeth’s family during this difficult time. We are providing consular support and are in contact with the local authorities.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We are aware of the death of a Scottish woman in Athens and are liaising with authorities in Greece. Officers are providing support to her family in Scotland.”