Husband ‘killed wife with screwdriver while Koran played’

Young mother Sara Al Shourefi, 28, had 270 injuries inflicted on her with weapons including an electric drill which punctured her brain, metal bars and a knife after the 105 minute attack at the hands of husband Tahi Harroba Manaa, a jury were told.

The “controlling” husband allegedly inflicted the “sadistic” attack while the couple’s four young children and her mother were in the house in The Oval, Firth Park, Sheffield.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how neighbours heard excerpts from the Koran played at full blast alongside angry shouting and sounds of someone being “beaten” and “tortured” during the killing in March last year.

Manaa, 37, who admitted his wife’s manslaughter but denies murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility, was described in court as “controlling, possessive and jealous”.

Nicholas Campbell QC, prosecuting, said Manaa called nephew Ahmad Jabber to the house telling him “I have killed my wife” before asking him to help drag the body upstairs to a cupboard.

Mr Jabber, who escaped and alerted a friend who rang police, later told officers: “His eyes were bulging and he seemed to be like a crazy person, as if he was out of his mind.”

Mr Campbell said psychiatrist Dr Gwilym Hayes assessed Manaa describing him as “a depressed individual who is also controlling, possessive and jealous”.

Mr Campbell said a Phillips screwdriver was left embedded in her eye and Mrs Al Shourefi had “deep puncture wounds to both eye sockets which had penetrated the brain”.

The prosecutor said: “She had been hit over the head repeatedly with a variety of weapons.”

Mrs Shourefi suffered 270 injuries listed as stab and puncture marks to her head and neck, lacerations, bruises and abrasions - including defence wounds.

The jury heard she was also kicked and stamped on.

Wounds across Mrs Shourefi’s neck were inflicted with a knife while a metal bar was used to wreak injuries to her spine.

Post mortem results showed the mother died from blood loss, brain injuries and inhaling blood.

The court heard the couple have four children aged eight, six, four and two and were “stateless” refugees having fled Kuwait for the UK in 2010.

Mr Campbell added there was a history of domestic abuse in the relationship, with evidence that Manaa regularly beat his wife and pulled out clumps of her hair.

Following his arrest Manaa denied murdering his wife telling police there were no issues with his mental health, giving conflicting accounts to psychiatrists about what happened.

The porsecution said Manaa admitted attacking his wife with a wooden shelf but later claimed he had amnesia and had no recollection of the event.

Mr Campbell said: “The prosecution say the central issue is whether he was suffering from an abnormality of the mind at the time of the attack.

The trial continues.