Suitcase Killer Jailed for Life
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October 4, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
Man who murdered a girl and left her body in a suitcase at Heathrow has been sentenced to 24 years.
Yousseff Wahid was sentenced to 24 years in jail on Monday after murdering a girl and then dumping her body at Heathrow.
Convicted of Fatima Kama’s murder in August this year, Wahid was remanded in custody to allow Judge Paul Worsley time to determine the minimum life sentence he was to be serve after evading police for 12 years.
At the sentencing yesterday, the Judge told Wahid: “You are an intelligent but devious and manipulative man.”
He also commented on the nature of Wahid’s attack on Miss Kama: “There is indication of significant physical suffering before her death.”
He added: “You callously concealed her body in a suitcase.”
It was also revealed that Wahid had once again attempted to evade standing on trial for Miss Kama’s murder by refusing to take part in proceedings as well as turning down any legal representation in the “mistaken belief” that he could abort the trial.
Earlier this year, the court heard how the 42-year-old former air steward murdered the Canadian party girl whilst she was staying at his brother’s flat on a week-long stay in London.
The 28-year-old had been repetitively stabbed in the back and had her throat cut before her body was stuffed into a suitcase and left on a trolley in London’s Heathrow airport car park in July 1999.
Her family alerted police after she failed to return to Montreal airport in Canada when expected, but the day after Miss Kama’s body was discovered Wahid had already fled to Lebanon.
Detectives from Scotland Yard pursued Wahid, but he once again fled the country before he could be tried.
Regardless of his absence, courts in Lebanon sentenced Wahid to death for the crime.
Eventually, in a landmark case Wahid was extradited from Bahrain last year, becoming the first person ever to be extradited to Britain from the country.
The lead detective of the investigation, Detective Chief Inspector John McFarlane, commented: “This was a callous and shocking murder which left a family grieving the loss of a beloved daughter.”
He added: “Wahid spent 12 years evading police and refused to face up to what he had done, I am pleased that Fatima’s family have finally got justice.”
By Laura Beard
[Image courtesy of Matt From London]
