Evil Meena Jutla (Paige Sandhu) faced her plea hearing in tonight’s Emmerdale (17th March), making another calculated move typical of the twisted villain.
As her sister Manpreet Sharma (Rebecca Sarker) braced herself for the day ahead, Liam and Leyla Cavanagh (Roxy Shahidi and Jonny McPherson) were also apprehensive – and with good reason, as Meena showed no signs of atoning for her sins.
As Meena was left disappointed over her lack of audience in court, those in attendance were stunned when she pleaded guilty to her first charge: kidnapping and attempting to kill Manpreet. She also admitted to shooting Leyla, but that was as far she would go, as the killer went on to plead not guilty to the murders of Andrea and Ben.
Then, as the charge of Leanna’s murder was put to her, Meena turned and smirked at the teen’s father Liam before loudly proclaiming ‘not guilty’ once again. Leyla couldn’t contain her fury and made a scene in court, while Liam had to leave the room.
Yes, Meena put on quite the show, using the occasion for yet another theatrical performance to push the villagers to their limits.
Now the pressure was well and truly on Manpreet as she realised what this meant – she would have to testify against Meena and endure her mental torture all over again. As the star witness, if her statement fails to convince the jury she feels she will be letting down everyone affected by Meena’s actions.
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Manpreet suffered a panic attack in the church as partner Charles Anderson (Kevin Mathurin) supported her through it. He suggested she spoke to nurse Wendy Posner (Susan Cookson) at the surgery, but Manpreet was later seen sitting in her parked car where she privately fell apart.
Will Manpreet be OK? Can her fragile state of mind take much more of Meena’s sick games? And if she returns, will Manpreet be able to stand up in court as she’s expected to?
As Charles began to worry for Manpreet’s safety, we saw Manpreet abandon her phone and car and wandered off into the woods.
The poor woman has been through so much over the past few months, but can she ever move on with Meena’s presence still very much hanging over her?
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