LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The estranged wife of a Somali immigrant accused of killing his four children took the witness stand in his trial.

Futima Amir spoke extensively of her very troubled life, including her marriage at age 13 to Said Biyad, their struggles in Somalia then a refugee camp in Kenya.

Then after Catholic Charities brought the Biyad family to the United States, she said she and her children fled Portland, Ore., and came to Louisville to get away from Biyad.

He is now accused of murdering those children.

“He raped me. After he raped me, he started beating me up,” Amir said through an interpreter.

Amir claimed in court Biyad not only sexually abused her in October, 2006, but also repeatedly hit her in the head with a mallet, knocking her unconscious.

A nurse who treated Amir also testified about her injuries.

“She had bleeding on her chin area, her mouth area, her lips, bleeding from her area above the eye,” said nurse Christy Hinkle.

Police said Biyad’s rampage was just beginning that early October morning.

A knife investigators believed Biyad used to slit the throats of all four of his children was shown in court as was the mallet police believed Biyad used on his wife and 8-year-old son.

“There could have been two causes of death because you can see brain matter coming out of these skull fractures right here,” said Dr. Barbara Weakley-Jones as she presented autopsy photos to the judge.

Weakley-Jones conducted autopsies on all four children and said Biyad’s son did not have defensive wounds from trying to fend off his attacker, leading her to believe he was either knocked unconscious or was killed while he was sleeping.

Weakley-Jones said the three girls, ages 2 to 6, all had defensive wounds.

Amir said that same morning, when she regained consciousness, she saw blood on the floor, then crawled because she couldn’t walk, to the phone to call 911, but stayed out of her children’s bedrooms.

“I knew something bad happened, but mentally, I thought I might get crazy so that’s why I chose to stay away,” Amir said through her interpreter.

Amir also testified Biyad had previously threatened to kill their children.

The trial is taking place more than 4.5 years after the homicides due to multiple unsuccessful attempts by Biyad’s attorneys to find him not mentally competent to stand trial.

Comments

comments