Updated ,first published
A woman who killed her husband, dismembered his body and distributed it around the city, will not be found guilty of his murder after she suffered years of abuse at his hands.
Nirmeen Noufl, 56, was charged in October 2024 with murdering her husband, Mamdouh, at their Greenacre home.
Mamdouh Noufl, 62, was reported missing by friends in July the previous year after vanishing months earlier.
Nirmeen Noufl dialled in to the Supreme Court’s King Street complex on Wednesday morning from a small, grey prison room wearing a white veil.
She was formally arraigned on a charge she murdered her husband about May 3, 2023 at Greenacre.
“Are you guilty or not guilty?” the judge’s associate asked.
“Not guilty,” Noufl replied.
“I plead guilty to manslaughter in the alternative.”
Prosecutors told Justice Peter Hamill they would accept the plea, in full satisfaction of the indictment.
It means Noufl will not be found guilty of murder, or go to trial on that charge.
Instead, she will face sentence for manslaughter later this year.
Outside court, Noufl’s lawyer, Mohamed Bejjaoui of Blackridge Law, told media it was a “tragic” case and asked for privacy.
Two of her family members sat silently, on opposite sides of the court, as Noufl entered her pleas and then quietly slipped out past waiting media. They cannot be identified under court order.
Documents tendered to the court last year describe a lengthy history of domestic violence against Noufl in the years before her husband’s death.
Prosecutors, at the earlier hearing, said Noufl killed her husband to escape his abuse. At the time he was in a relationship with another woman in Egypt and supporting financially.
Mamdouh was abusive physically, psychologically and financially, affidavits tendered to the court last year claimed.
“I would rather see you dead than give you a divorce,” Mandouh once told his wife, brandishing a knife in his hand, those documents state.
Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty, then-leader of the NSW Police homicide squad at the time of Noufl’s arrest, described it as a “domestic violence murder”.
“We will allege also that she butchered and dismembered his body, placed his body parts in plastic bags and then disposed of his remains in various rubbish bins in the residential areas and industrial areas of south-west Sydney,” he said.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.
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