Louisville Metro Police officers described in court on Monday a grisly scene when they walked into the home of Said Biyad’s family on Oct. 6, 2006, with a trail of blood starting in the hallway and leading to bedrooms with his four children lying dead, their throats cut.

“He left them laying in pools of their own blood,” Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Christie Foster said in her opening statement about Biyad, whose murder trial began on Monday in Jefferson Circuit Court.

Foster told Judge James Shake that Biyad “brutally” killed his four children — Goshany, Khadija, Fatuma and Sidi Ali, ages 2 through 8 — and raped and assaulted his wife before turning himself in at police headquarters and admitting what he had done.

Detective Brenda Wescott testified that three of the children were found in one room, with the youngest apparently trying to put her thumb in her mouth before she died. The other child was found in a separate room in bed, partially covered in blankets.

Wescott, who had to compose herself once during her testimony, said she arrived at the scene to find a veteran officer looking “shell-shocked.”

The bench trial, in which there is no jury, is expected to last through the week, though it will not resume until Wednesday because Shake is out of town on Tuesday.

Without a jury, testimony went quickly on Monday, as opening statements lasted only a few minutes. And defense attorneys asked only a handful of questions of the police officers, likely because they did not dispute the basic facts of the case.

Defense attorney Mike Lemke said in his openings to Shake that they believe Biyad is mentally ill and will offer expert testimony that he is a paranoid schizophrenic.

Lemke said Biyad has for years believed people were trying to kill him and get his money, and that he was a multimillionaire celebrity.

He said this trial will show “clear evidence of a person who is mentally ill” and provide a “peek into a brain that does not function in a normal way.”

Lemke told Shake he does not know if Biyad will testify or not.

A few times during testimony on Monday, Biyad spoke out loud, with a translator interpreting that Biyad disagreed with what officers were saying. Biyad disputed that he ever wrote his address down on a piece of paper for police, as one officer testified. And he denied having ever spoken to one of the officers who said he interviewed Biyad at police headquarters.

At another point, Biyad said out loud through his translator, “I didn’t say that, I didn’t say that.”

The first witness for the prosecution, Officer James Clark, said Biyad was sitting calmly in the lobby of the police station on Seventh and Jefferson streets, his hands crossed, when he first met him.

Biyad “kept saying he had done very bad things,” Clark said.

Clark testified that Biyad told his story, in broken English, “matter-of-factly.”

Biyad told police he had slit the throats of his children, making a motion by sweeping his hand across his neck, and believed they were dead. He said his wife, Fatuma Amir, may also be dead. Amir was beaten and raped, but survived.

Clark said Biyad was angry because he believed his wife was cheating on him and he was asked to pay money to the elders to have a relationship with her.

Biyad allegedly raped his wife and beat her with a hammer before she was able to lock herself in a room.

Biyad said he then went to the rooms of each of his children, cutting their throats, before throwing the knife in a garbage can, according to court documents.

When Officer Krissy Hagan went to the home, she said she heard Amir crying inside.

“A sob I won’t forget,” she said.

Biyad is not facing the death penalty through an agreement between defense and prosecutors and the maximum sentence he faces is life in prison.

“He left them laying in pools of their own blood,” Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Christie Foster said in her opening statement about Biyad, whose murder trial began on Monday in Jefferson Circuit Court.

Foster told Judge James Shake that Biyad “brutally” killed his four children — Goshany, Khadija, Fatuma and Sidi Ali, ages 2 through 8 — and raped and assaulted his wife before turning himself in at police headquarters and admitting what he had done.

Detective Brenda Wescott testified that three of the children were found in one room, with the youngest apparently trying to put her thumb in her mouth before she died. The other child was found in a separate room in bed, partially covered in blankets.

Wescott, who had to compose herself once during her testimony, said she arrived at the scene to find a veteran officer looking “shell-shocked.”

The bench trial, in which there is no jury, is expected to last through the week, though it will not resume until Wednesday because Shake is out of town on Tuesday.

Without a jury, testimony went quickly on Monday, as opening statements lasted only a few minutes. And defense attorneys asked only a handful of questions of the police officers, likely because they did not dispute the basic facts of the case.

Defense attorney Mike Lemke said in his openings to Shake that they believe Biyad is mentally ill and will offer expert testimony that he is a paranoid schizophrenic.

Lemke said Biyad has for years believed people were trying to kill him and get his money, and that he was a multimillionaire celebrity.

He said this trial will show “clear evidence of a person who is mentally ill” and provide a “peek into a brain that does not function in a normal way.”

Lemke told Shake he does not know if Biyad will testify or not.

A few times during testimony on Monday, Biyad spoke out loud, with a translator interpreting that Biyad disagreed with what officers were saying. Biyad disputed that he ever wrote his address down on a piece of paper for police, as one officer testified. And he denied having ever spoken to one of the officers who said he interviewed Biyad at police headquarters.

At another point, Biyad said out loud through his translator, “I didn’t say that, I didn’t say that.”

The first witness for the prosecution, Officer James Clark, said Biyad was sitting calmly in the lobby of the police station on Seventh and Jefferson streets, his hands crossed, when he first met him.

Biyad “kept saying he had done very bad things,” Clark said.

Clark testified that Biyad told his story, in broken English, “matter-of-factly.”

Biyad told police he had slit the throats of his children, making a motion by sweeping his hand across his neck, and believed they were dead. He said his wife, Fatuma Amir, may also be dead. Amir was beaten and raped, but survived.

Clark said Biyad was angry because he believed his wife was cheating on him and he was asked to pay money to the elders to have a relationship with her.

Biyad allegedly raped his wife and beat her with a hammer before she was able to lock herself in a room.

Biyad said he then went to the rooms of each of his children, cutting their throats, before throwing the knife in a garbage can, according to court documents.

When Officer Krissy Hagan went to the home, she said she heard Amir crying inside.

“A sob I won’t forget,” she said.

Biyad is not facing the death penalty through an agreement between defense and prosecutors and the maximum sentence he faces is life in prison.

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COURIER JOURNAL

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