He was sentenced in WA’s Supreme Court on Monday to life in prison with a minimum term of 19 years for the murder of Ruqia Haidari, 21, at their Balcatta home last year. His sentence was backdated to January 18, 2020, when he was taken into custody.
Age
He is 26 years old.
Ruqia Haidari Murder
The brother heard Halimi tell Ms. Haidari to be quiet and respectful before he heard his sister say: “Don’t touch me, don’t hit me.”
Nine minutes after the call ended, Halimi called the brother back and told him: “If you’re a man, come and get the dead body of your sister.”
Leaving the 21-year-old bleeding on the floor, Halimi went to the Mirrabooka police station in his bloodstained clothes and handed himself in, telling officers he had slit his wife’s throat.
Trial
The court was told the couple had married in Melbourne in November 2019 after Halimi paid Ms. Haidari’s family $15,000.
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In his video-recorded interview with police the day after the murder, Halimi said he knew Ms. Haidari had been “forced” into the marriage, saying she told him straight away she had been “pushed” by her parents and did not love him.
However, in a letter to the court, Halimi — an Afghan refugee — claimed it was not until he went to prison that he was “shocked” to discover Ms. Haidari had never wanted to marry him, saying if he had known he would have helped her get a divorce.
His lawyer Seamus Rafferty also submitted that his client never “pressured” Ms. Haidari to marry him, and she told him before the wedding she was “fine” to do so.
Sentenced
Mohammad Ali Halimi paid $15,000 to arrange his marriage to a 21-year-old woman, but when they argued about her lack of affection, he twice slit her throat with a knife, then called her brother to tell him to “come and get the dead body”.
The 26-year-old Afghan refugee was sentenced in the West Australian Supreme Court on Monday to life behind bars, with a minimum of 19 years to be served for the murder of Ruqia Haidari at the couple’s Balcatta home in January last year.
Halimi wiped away tears during parts of the sentencing hearing, including when the facts were read out.
“I reached my breaking point and snapped after a long period of rejection, emotional heartache, and confusion,” Halimi said in his letter to the court.
“All I wanted was to have a family and live a happy life.
“I took her life and destroyed my own.”
