Christian Man Arrested for Murder of Teen Daughter Over Muslim Boyfriend, Plans to Convert to Islam
A 58-year-old Christian man from Ramle, Israel, who damned his teenage daughter to Hell after she refused to turn away from her Muslim boyfriend and plans to convert to Islam, was charged with her murder on Sunday.
The father, Sami Karra, is also an ex-convict, according to Haaretz, whose past crimes include intimidation, property violations, drug dealing and possession. He was last found guilty in 2004.
His Israeli-Arab Christian daughter, Henriette, 17, who he is accused of murdering on June 13, had been in a longstanding battle with her family who objected to her relationship with the young Muslim man. Efforts to intimidate her with violence to end the relationship had failed, according to police reports.
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The teenager's mother, Aliham, told police her husband felt humiliated by his daughter's behavior which threatened the "family's honor."
In a conversation between the two parents, recorded by the police the night before the murder, Aliham, asked her husband why he allowed Henriette to go to the graduation party on June 12.
"Forget about her, let her go to Hell," he replied. "It's not worth another shekel to even chase after her, she's garbage. We need to whip her, throw her away like a dog and see how she does. She's already gone, I'm sick of her and you."
According to police reports, Henriette left her family home two weeks before she was murdered due to the standoff with her parents, and a week before her death she filed a complaint with local police saying her mother attacked her.
Days before her murder her father allegedly beat and threatened her at the home of a female friend during a failed intervention where her mother and two uncles were also present.
In the indictment against Karra cited by the Jerusalem Post, he threatened his daughter the day he beat her, stating, "I would spend my whole life in jail. I don't care."
Police then, according to Haaretz, offered her help two days before she was killed. They tried mediating the dispute between the teenager and her parents with the help of a social worker but she refused to return home with her parents. She agreed, however, to stay with a relative.
After the meeting, Henriette visited her parents' home and went to her high school graduation party on June 12. The day she was murdered, she reportedly deposited $113 in her boyfriend's canteen account in prison. She then told a relative that her boyfriend would be released that week and she would convert to Islam.
The relative alerted Henriette's father who then decided it would be best to kill her, according to court records. She was later found stabbed to death in her parents' kitchen with wounds to her neck.
"The defendant decided to cause the death of the deceased and in order to realize his goal he was equipped with a knife. The defendant stabbed the deceased three times, causing her death on the spot," the indictment said.
The prosecution also said Henriette's father was the only one with her at the time and place of her murder, according to the Post.
Henriette's mother said she was talking with her daughter moments before she was killed when she heard a knock on the door and a male voice. He daughter promised to continue the conversation later before hanging up.
Shukri Abu Tabik and Giora Zilberstein, who represent Karra, asserted in the Post report that he isn't guilty.
"It's no secret that the family had a bad relationship, so to speak, between the deceased and her family in light of the criticism her family had of her behavior. In my opinion, this did not lead to murder and could not lead to murder. The complaints against [Henriette] were only to reunite the family," the lawyers told Ynet.
"The police arrested three members of her family: Sami, her uncle, and brother, held them for a long time in detention, and the fact that the police today could not bring charges against others shows that they are trying to patch together an indictment against Sami. There is no direct evidence that he participated in the murder and no forensic evidence. His shirt was sent to the forensic unit to search for blood remains, and the answer is unequivocal: The murder weapon was not caught, the police are trying very artificially to indict him, and I am sure that he will eventually be acquitted," they added.
After his arrest, Henriette's father who is reportedly related to new Israeli Supreme Court Justice George Karra, refused to answer any questions from the police.
He confirmed, however, that he is the man captured leaving his home on security cameras at the time of her death. He then picked up his brother and drove to the seaside city of Bat Yam Haaretz said. Karra did not explain why he stayed in Bat Yam even after he was told of the death of his daughter.
