Husband convicted for killing wife, burning her body handed 14-year prison term

A 45-year-old man convicted of manslaughter in the June 2022 death of his wife, Sawsan Mhamdi, was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Friday. He was accused of killing the 35-year-old, then eventually driving his children to school while Mhamdi’s body was rolled up in a carpet on the back seat.

Ahmed I. was then alleged to have set her body on fire later that day in Germany after driving over 200 kilometers from their home in Reuver, Limburg. In delivering its verdict on Friday, the District Court in Roermond also convicted I. of desecrating his wife’s remains.

This was evident by the man’s behavior before and after the death of his wife, the court believes. He told witnesses before her death that a woman who betrays her man should be sentenced to death. He hid the body behind his couch in his living room for several days after she passed away.

When the woman’s body started to smell, he rolled her body in a carpet, put her in the back seat of his car, and drove his children to school while the body was in the back seat. He then set the body on fire by a German motorway. The body was identified in October 2022. The man was arrested shortly after this.

In the meantime, he told others, including the teachers of his two children, that his wife was cheating on him, took money before leaving him, and was a bad wife. The court stated that the man had often been aggressive in the past and was controlling his wife while isolating her from her surroundings. She had no friends, no phone, and was barely allowed to leave the house.

The woman received a Dutch passport a few days before her death. This gave her more freedom to make her own choices, the court added.

The victim had contacted her family via Skype and told them that he had threatened to kill her in the case of a divorce. His son, who was six years old at the time, told the police that his father hit her with a metal curtain rod on many occasions.

The court blames the man for keeping the victim’s family and children in the dark about her death for months and did not give them a chance to say goodbye in an appropriate manner.