A Muslim man from New York City was sentenced for 18 years after being found guilty of murdering his wife because she served him lentils instead of goat meat for dinner. 75-year-old Noor Hussain appealed against a lower court’s ruling that convicted him of second degree murder for beating his wife to death using a stick earlier this year. Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Matthew D’Emic stood by the lower court’s decision.
According to Hussain’s attorney Julie Clark, her client felt the need to discipline his 66-year-old wife Nazar because she did not obey him.
“He had told her he wanted a particular type of meat for dinner, goat meat, and she refused. So he took up a stick to discipline her for not making the meal he wanted,” she said.
Clark argued that Hussain, who hails from Pakistan, belongs to a culture that accepts such measures as a way of punishing one’s spouse when she disobeys her man. Hussain too said that she deserved to be punished for disrespecting him by cursing and arguing. During the postmortem, the doctor said that Nazar succumbed to a brain hemorrhage after
Hussain beat her 20 times, initially attacking her while she lay asleep. Evidence used for the trial included pictures of the victim’s battered face as well the blood-spattered room where she was heinously attacked.
District attorney Kenneth Thompson said that Hussain deserved the sentence because of the severity of his crime.
“This defendant viciously attacked his wife as she lay in bed, unable to defend herself. Now the defendant has been held accountable for this brutal and cowardly act,” he said.
Clark requested that Hussain’s sentence be reduced because her client has said that the lack of Pakistani food behind bars will make life difficult for him.
“His inability to speak English and his inability to have Pakistani food will make his incarceration even more difficult than the average inmate,” wrote Clark, while seeking the minimum 15 years to life sentence for Hussain, to which prosecutor Sabeeha Madni responded saying, “There are no mitigating factors. Not his age, not his inability to speak English and, certainly, not his dislike for the food in prison.” She demanded he be sentenced for the maximum 25 years.
Hussain had earlier blamed his wife’s death on cancer and a heart attack, while requesting the judge to electrocute him so he did not have to live any longer.
“I am true Muslim. I never fight with my wife… In the name of Allah… Please do me justice and hang me. Give me electric shock so I can die… There is no witness and no complainant in this case. They should bring some proof… I’m in jail for 40 months, and day and night I recite the Koran,” he said.
Hussain is eligible to seek parole after 18 years at the age of 93.
Photo Credit: The New York Post
