Accountant who bludgeoned and strangled his wife to death in row over her ‘sexual demands’ and wanted to move in with her sister is jailed for 23 years
- Ahmed Dawood Seedat, 37, killed 32-year-old Fahima Yusuf in August 2018
- Murdered her while their children slept before burying her in their garden
- He wanted to pursue a relationship with her sister, who was not involved
- Court heard Ms Yusuf’s final words to Seedat before she died were: ‘I love you’
- Justice Bruno Fiannaca in court on Monday sentenced him to life in jail
An accountant who murdered his wife because he wanted a relationship with her sister has been sentenced to at least 23 years behind bars.
Ahmed Dawood Seedat, 37, killed 32-year-old Fahima Yusuf while their children slept before burying her in the garden of their home in Carlisle, WA in August.
On Monday Justice Bruno Fiannaca sentenced him to life in jail and called the murder brutal, callous and cowardly.
Ahmed Dawood Seedat (left) made ‘disturbing’ online searches including how to bury a person alive before he murdered his wife Fahima Yusuf (right)
Ms Yusuf’s body was found in a shallow grave in their backyard four days after her murder
He said Seedat planned the murder for weeks and had egotistical motives.
Justice Fiannaca said Seedat had earlier searched online for chilling terms such as ‘cremating a body’, ‘best place to knock someone out’ and burying someone alive.
He said Seedat struck his wife of eight years with a wheel brace as she slept.
Ms Yusuf woke up after the first blow but was vulnerable and easily overpowered by him as he continued his attack, Justice Fiannaca said.
Seedat then choked or suffocated Ms Yusuf and buried her in a hole that had been made by a contractor who was told it was to install a pool for his children, aged two and five.
Seedat claimed her final words were that she loved him, but Justice Fiannaca said that only demonstrated her horror and desperation to stop him from killing her, and the betrayal she felt.
Ms Yusuf’s cause of death remains undetermined but Justice Fiannaca said she suffered lacerations to her head and body, and had sand in her mouth but not in her airways.
After Ms Yusuf’s death, Seedat lied to explain her absence, telling friends and neighbours she had gone to the UK for eye surgery and telling her sister she had left him.
Ms Yusuf (pictured left) and Seedat (pictured right) lived in the Perth suburb of Carlisle with their two children aged two and five
The hole was dug by a contractor, who was told it was to install a pool for the children, the court heard (pictured: Mr Seedat and Ms Yusuf’s backyard which was put up for sale)
Seedat also asked a friend to call Ms Yusuf’s interstate father and impersonate a police officer.
Justice Fiannaca said it was part of Seedat’s narcissistic traits that he thought people would believe his lies and he would get away with the crime.
‘It may have been technically clumsy but it was calculated behaviour,’ he said.
Ms Yusuf was reported missing four days after her death and police found her body the following day.
Seedat had intended to try to pursue a relationship with his sister-in-law, who he described as his best friend, but she viewed him as a brother.
‘You envisaged a future with your sister-in-law … you had become emotionally dependent on her,’ Justice Fiannaca said.
Seedat had also searched online: ‘Can you marry your brother-in-law if your sister is dead muslim?’
Justice Fiannaca said Seedat had deprived his children of both their parents, but accepted he was remorseful.
Seedat is separately facing fraud charges, with allegations he stole $5.7 million.
Piles of soil were dug up in the backyard of the home as part of the extensive police investigation