CONTENT WARNING: This post contains details of a murder case.
By Emma Younger
Police believe a Melbourne man who “slaughtered” and then mutilated his wife in front of their three young children may have murdered her because she did not want him to join the Islamic State group in Syria, court documents have revealed.
The 35-year-old Broadmeadows man is also accused of bashing two of their children, aged under six, around the head — in one instance with a milk crate — and burning his toddler daughter with hot water.
The man cannot be identified under a court order to protect the identity of his children.
He was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife after police arrived at his home in July 2016 and found his children suffering from head injuries.
The three children were taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital and told police they had witnessed their father “slaughtering” their mother with a knife in the lounge room, according to the prosecution summary.
Another of the children told detectives his mother’s “body was nothing but blood”.
They told police their father wrapped the 27-year-old’s body in electrical tape, plastic and a doona before putting her body in the boot of the family car.
It is alleged the man drove to grassland next to the Dallas tennis courts where he dumped the body, before taking his children, who were also in the car, to a bakery to buy pastries.