Warning: This post contains graphic content.
A Sydney man accused of brutally stabbing his estranged wife to death with a pair of scissors told police he did it because she left their marriage.
Leila Alavi, 26, was pronounced dead after being stabbed 56 times in the car park beneath her Auburn hairdressing salon in January 2015.
Her husband, Mokhtar Hosseiniamraei, pleaded guilty to murder earlier this year, having confessed to authorities shortly after the attack.
Details of that police interview were tendered to Supreme Court during Hosseiniamraei’s sentencing hearing on Thursday.
“[I stabbed her] In her heart and in her neck because she did not obey the rule of marriage,” he told police, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
When pushed further by the interviewing officer, the Iranian-born 34-year-old said, “Because we were married and before divorce she broke the contract. I could not tolerate it. I could not forget it.
“We have commitment, moral commitment towards one another. In this country this means nothing.”
Alavi had moved out of the couple’s Toongabbie home and taken out an apprehended violence order against her husband just months prior to the attack, after he threatened her life.
“You are a slut, I’m going to kill you and I’m going to fix up your sister and friends who have been teaching you this,” he said according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Alavi had reportedly attempted to find a place at various women’s shelters, before ultimately turning to her sister for refuge.
“Eight months before she died she come to my place and told me, ‘I can’t live with Mokhtar because he is punching me and it is scary’,” Alavi previously told Fairfax media.
“Leila go to a woman’s place with me but every day they say we don’t have a room.”
Leila Alavi and her accused killer, Hosseiniamraei Mokhtar. Image: Facebook/Leila Alavi.
In a victim impact statement tendered to the court, Mitra Alavi spoke about how she and her sister left Iran to escape violence.
"Leila was everything to me, she was the only family I had for many years and the only family I had in Australia," Alavi said, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
"I saw that she was abused both physically and psychologically by him. I believe this man was cruel and dangerous.
"After Leila was murdered, there was no more colour in my life; my life and my world turned black."
Hosseiniamraei's barrister told the court that his client was battling drug addiction, had been deeply affected by the breakdown of his marriage and was unlikely to re-offend.
Hosseiniamraei will be sentenced next Thursday.
Top Comments
'Unlikely to reoffend.' Unless he takes drugs and a woman tries to leave him. Which is highly likely, given he is battling a drug addiction and strongly believes it is his right to murder women who choose to leave him.
two services were de-funded in NSW that specifically addressed women's needs from culturally and linguistically diverse groups. Women in these communities need specialised help by people who have an acute understanding of the cultural and family structures to help the women get out and stay alive. A harrowing story that looks like being repeated.