A controlling husband who murdered his wife by stabbing her 14 times on Christmas Eve – and who recorded her on his mobile phone as she lay dying – has been jailed for life.
“It’s hard to see what can be salvaged from this wreckage. I wish [the family] well in trying to put this behind them and move forward in life,” Mr Justice Tony Hunt said on Monday as he sentenced Bahaalddin Alshwawrah (45) at the Central Criminal Court.
Alshwawrah, with an address at Park Na Sillogue Court, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, was charged with the murder of 42-year-old Zeinat Bashabsheh at the address on December 24th, 2021.
Detective Sergeant Gerard Brennan confirmed to Ronan Kennedy SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, that a trial date was originally fixed for May 12 this year, before a plea was entered in April.
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Det Sgt Brennan said that Ms Bashabsheh and Alshwawrah had met online. She travelled to Jordan to meet him, before they married and relocated to Ireland, where they had three children together. The court heard Ms Bashabsheh had two children from a previous relationship.
On Christmas Eve 2021, Alshwawrah banged on the window of his neighbour’s house, shouting that he had killed his wife, before he walked calmly back to his own house and rang someone on his mobile phone.
Two neighbours entered his home, where they observed his wife slumped on the floor in a corner of the kitchen, with multiple stab wounds to her torso.
Alshwawrah was on the phone at the time, shouting: “I hope she dies.”
Det Sgt Brennan said that Alshwawrah was making allegations that his wife had an affair, with Alshwawrah saying that he was videoing the incident to send to another man.
The detective confirmed that State Pathologist Dr Sally Anne Collis determined that the cause of death was stab wounds to the chest, with 14 stab wounds inflicted with a single-edged blade having been identified in total.
Det Sgt Brennan said that Alshwawrah’s phone was seized and analysed, with videos on the device showing Ms Bashabsheh slumped on the floor during “the final throes of life”.
He confirmed the videos showed that Alshwawrah did not offer any assistance to his wife. The detective said that Facebook messages, both written and voice, were sent by the defendant to an account, including videos of her dying.
He said that a video of Ms Bashabsheh dying on the floor was sent to another account with the message: “I killed my wife.”
Det Sgt Brennan said that in interview Alshwawrah suggested that he had been a victim of violence by his wife on previous occasions, but no evidence of this was found.
The detective said that gardaí obtained detailed evidence that controverted many of Alshwawrah’s claims, adding that Alshwawrah was aggressive and controlling of his wife.
He said that in 2018 Ms Bashabsheh obtained an interim barring order against her husband, alleging he had stabbed her with a knife.
Det Sgt Brennan said that Alshwawrah has two previous convictions from Jordan, one for simple injury recorded in 1999 as well as a conviction for simple injury/threats in 2004.
In a victim impact statement read out by Mr Kennedy, Ms Bashabsheh’s family said that “our beloved Zeinat was brutally taken from us”.
“She was the heart of our family, her presence lit up every room,” they said, describing her as a devoted mother.
“When we look into the eyes of her children, we see a pain that no child should know.
“We now live every day with a hole in our hearts that can never be filled. Each of us has lost a piece of themselves.
“She did not deserve to die in such a violent, senseless way, and we did not deserve to lose someone so precious to us.”
In a letter of apology, read out in court by Michael Bowman SC, defending, Alshwawrah said: “I took away my wife’s life and I will never forgive myself ... I wish I could turn back time, but I know this is not possible.”
Alshwawrah apologised to his children for having to grow up without their parents.
Mr Justice Hunt said this had been a very upsetting case to listen to, in which a relatively young life had been taken away in “a very violent and uncaring way”.
He said the fact that fatal wounds were inflicted while the defendant was recording and sharing it had defied belief.
The judge imposed the mandatory sentence of life in prison.
