A man has been charged with murder hours after his wife was found dead inside their home in what police allege were ‘very violent’ circumstances.
Emergency services rushed to a unit complex on Knox Street in Belmore in Sydney’s south-west at 7.50am on Wednesday, after receiving reports of a concern for welfare about a ‘distressed woman’.
Mother-of-five Khouloud Hawatt, 31, was found dead inside an apartment.
Homicide detectives established a crime scene and following inquiries, the woman’s husband Talaat Hawatt, 35, was arrested 30km away at a Denham Court home less than an hour later.
He was taken to Campbelltown Police Station, where he has since been charged with murder (domestic violence), contravening an apprehended domestic violence order, use prohibited weapon contrary to prohibition order and failure to comply with digital evidence access order direction
Hawatt was refused bail to appear in Campbelltown Local Court on Thursday.
The charges come after new pictures of couple’s seemingly blissful marriage less than a decade ago emerged.
The couple, who were married in Lebanon in 2015, have five children who range in age from six-months-old to eight-years-old.
Mother-of-five Khouloud Hawatt was found dead inside a unit in Belmore on Wednesday
Her husband Talaat Hawatt (pictured) was charged with murder late Wednesday night
Photos from their wedding show them posing for the camera arm-in-arm with Ms Hawatt carrying a bouquet of white roses and her husband in a three-piece suit.
In another picture, they stare longingly into each other’s eyes, with no inkling of the horror that will allegedly unfold less than ten years later.
Earlier on Wednesday, Campsie Superintendent Sheridan Waldau said the woman died ‘some time early this morning’ and that officers allegedly stumbled on ‘a very violent murder scene’.
She confirmed Hawatt was known to a strike force targeting domestic violence offenders known as Operation Amarok and that his wife had an apprehended violence order (AVO) against him when she was allegedly killed.
‘I know that he has come under the notice of Amarok before, and he had a compliance check by Campsie police in only August,’ Superintendent Waldau said.
It comes after a woman who knew Ms Hawatt told Daily Mail Australia she had spoken to mum-of-five the day before she was allegedly killed.
She said there had been no indication that anything was wrong.
Standing arm-in-arm and with Ms Hawatt carrying a bouquet of white roses, the couple pose for the camera in their wedding finery (pictured)
In another picture, they stare longingly into each other’s eyes, with no inkling of the horror that will allegedly unfold less than ten years later
Police are seen outside the home in Sydney’s south-west on Wednesday
The woman claimed the family were due to be kicked out of their unit in a few weeks and that neighbours had complained about them yelling and slamming doors.
Another neighbour said they heard the sound of people banging into walls and chasing each other on Tuesday evening.
It’s understood Ms Hawatt doesn’t have any family in Australia but that her husband’s father lived in Condell Park in Sydney’s south-west
‘The mother used to come into our store. She was very calm. It’s so sad because they have five kids,’ a local worker told Daily Mail Australia.
A crime scene has been established at the couple’s unit block in Belmore (pictured)
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk