A man who repeatedly stabbed two sisters in their Birmingham flat has been found guilty of their murders.
Mohammed Ali, 29, of Old Snow Hill, used three knives to inflict a total of 37 wounds on Yasmine, 22, and Sabrina Larbi-Cherif, 19, last September.
Birmingham Crown Court heard he had been in a relationship with Yasmine.
Ali, whose own barrister described him as a hateful individual, had admitted manslaughter but denied murder. He will be sentenced at a later date.
The sisters' bodies were found with multiple stab wounds on 14 September 2008.
The detective in charge of the case, Det Ch Insp Joanne Clews, described Ali as an "evil monster", while defence barrister Michael Bromley-Martin QC told the jury the 29-year-old was perhaps the most "hateful individual" they would come across.
'Swathe' of blood
The court heard that Yasmine, a salsa dancer originally from Algeria, met Ali in 2006 and became pregnant by him twice, resulting in two terminations.
She had also accused him of rape, but later withdrew the charge.
Prosecutor David Crigman QC said their relationship had been "foundering" before the killings.
The trial was told that Ali used three knives to stab Yasmine twice and inflict 35 separate knife wounds on her sister, who was due to start at university, leaving behind a scene of carnage.
Prosecutor David Crigman QC had told the trial that Ali stabbed both women in the lounge before dragging their bodies into a bedroom, leaving a "swathe" of blood on the floor.
He said Ali knew exactly what he was doing and added: "Even if there was an element of provocation from either of the girls... no reasonable man would have reacted in the way that this man did."
He added that Ali had twice gone to the kitchen to rearm himself after breaking two of the knives he was using.
"He had left behind a scene of carnage," he said.
'Barbaric' killer
Yasmine had also undergone "a beating", Mr Crigman said, suffering wounds to her arm and wrist and an 8in (20cm) stab wound to her back which entered her heart.
He said Sabrina's wounds were mostly inflicted with precision, rather than anger, leading to the loss of all of her blood.
Ali was arrested in Dover, Kent, on 16 September, two days after the sisters' bodies were found partially naked in their flat at the Jupiter apartments.
They were last seen alive at 2200 BST on 13 September.
Their bodies were found after relatives became concerned that they had not been in touch.
CCTV images seen by the jury showed Ali leaving the apartment with a carrier bag - thought to contain his bloodstained clothes - at about 1300 BST on Sunday 14 September.
Mr Crigman added that the sisters' mother had found the trial so distressing she had returned to the family home in London and was not in court when Ali was found guilty.
The prosecutor asked for time for the family to "consider the position" and to prepare victim statements for the judge before sentencing.
A statement issued by the family said the verdict would not bring back their "angels" but would ensure their "barbaric" killer would stay behind bars for a long time.
Ali had claimed in court that he had been provoked, but a jury took three hours and 20 minutes to convict him of murder.
No comments:
Post a Comment