ACT News

Save
Print

Neighbour heard screaming the night Sabah al-Mdwali was stabbed to death: court

A neighbour heard "loud, horrific" screams then gurgling sounds coming from a Gordon house the night Sabah al-Mdwali's husband allegedly stabbed her to death, a court has heard.

Ms al-Mdwali, 28, was found dead on a bed inside the Knoke Avenue property on March 17 in 2015. 

She had suffered 57 stab wounds.

Her husband, Maged Mohommed Ahmed al-Harazi, 36, is accused of her murder, but has pleaded not guilty.

It's alleged al-Harazi attacked his wife of 10 years as she breastfed their 10-month-old baby.

Advertisement

Al-Harazi's ACT Supreme Court trial this week was told the couple married in Yemen in 2005 before moving to Australia two years later.

Their relationship was marred by ongoing tensions about where they would live; Ms al-Mdwali wanted to stay in the ACT near her family, while al-Harazi wanted to return to Yemen.

The court on Thursday heard evidence from several neighbours, including a man who recalled hearing a dispute between a man and a woman in Arabic that broke out about 9.45 pm on March 16. 

"I heard an argument that just got worse and worse as the hours progressed," he said. 

"It was a continuation of an argument that had been going on for months.

"It was bloody awful. It was just awful."

The man said he and his daughter noticed the disagreement got louder and more aggressive over the next few hours until he heard "loud, horrific screaming" shortly before 2am. 

He told the court he walked outside towards the home's back fence so he could hear better when the shouting stopped. 

"[I heard] hours and hours of continual sound and it just died.

"All I heard was a gurgling."

Earlier, the jury heard from the manager of a kebab shop where al-Harazi had worked for several trial periods, first as a baker then as a meat carver. 

The manager said he'd had to let al-Harazi go two or three times because he was unreliable and often didn't finish his shifts.

He'd left work a few hours before his shift ended, prompting the manager to tell him to never come back, the day of Ms al-Mdwali's death, 

The fact of Ms al-Mdwali's murder is not in dispute. Instead, the trial will revolve around whether it was her husband who killed her. 

The trial has heard al-Harazi had told police his wife's father and brother asked him to leave the house the night Ms al-Mdwali died and when he returned he found her bloodied body.

But prosecutors said evidence would indicate the men weren't near the Gordon home that night, arguing al-Harazi murdered his wife several hours before he drove to Tuggeranong police station in the early hours of March 17 to report she'd been killed.

The trial continues before Justice Richard Refshauge on Friday.

Ads help pay for the award-winning journalism you're enjoying today.

Thank you for your support. Please add us to your ad-blockers whitelist. Find out how