Life for Sheffield man who tortured wife to death as Koran played

Thahi Manaa, 37, inflicted more than 270 injuries on his wife Sara Al Shourefi with an assortment of weapons.

A jury at Sheffield Crown Court found him guilty of murdering his 28-year-old wife.

Her battered body, which was covered in slash and stab wounds, was found stuffed in a cupboard with a screwdriver protruding from her eye socket.

Sentencing him this afternoon, Mrs Justice Cox said: “It was a ferocious and chilling attack of unimaginable barbarity”.

During the brutal 105 minute attack, psychotic Manaa, who was suffering from ‘morbid jealousy’ and schizophrenia played the Koran at full volume in a bid to drown out his wife’s screams.

Manaa pleaded guilty to Mrs Al Shourefi’s manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, claiming his mental illness impaired his actions at the time of the killing.

But the jury rejected his claims and found although he was suffering from a mental illness, he was responsible for his actions.

Police found several blood several blood-stained implements by Ms Al Shourefi’s body, including screwdrivers, an electric drill, two metal bars, a wooden shelf and a knife.

Neighbours overheard the attack taking place at the couple’s home in The Oval, Firth Park, on March 4 last year.

Nicholas Campbell QC, prosecuting, said they heard the Koran being played at full blast, angry shouting coming from the property and the sound of someone being ‘beaten’ and ‘tortured’.

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

Mrs Al Shourefi, a mother of four, was found with stab and puncture marks to her head and neck and lacerations, bruises and other abrasions.

She had also been kicked and stamped on.

A post mortem examination found Mrs Al Shourefi had died from blood loss, brain injuries and inhaling blood.

Psychiatrist Dr Rameesh Puri said Manaa was suffering from ‘morbid jealousy’ and had lost touch with reality to the extent he believed each of his four wives was being unfaithful to him.

The court heard the couple, who had four children aged eight, six, four and two, were ‘stateless’ refugees who fled Kuwait for the UK in 2010.

Mrs Al Shourefi’s sister Narjis Farhoud has said she will never forgive Manaa for taking her sister away and leaving their four children without a mother.

She said her sister had moved to the UK for a better life.

“Sarah was my sister and sister and my best friend and she has been cruelly taken from me by Thahi’s selfish and violent actions.

“I am still in deep shock about what has happened to Sara. She was such a lovely natured person, gentle and kind - to think of the suffering she must have gone through at his hands breaks my heart.”