WARNING: Distressing content
A woman who killed her husband, dismembered his body and scattered his remains in bin bags across Sydney told a confidant she “had enough” of being treated “like sh*t” by him.
She had also asked for a divorce in the days before she killed him after he revealed he was having an affair and wanted to marry another woman overseas.
Mahmoud Noufl, 62, vanished in May 2023 and was reported missing two months later.
His wife Nirmeen Noufl was charged with his murder in October the following year.
She pleaded not guilty to one count of murder and was due to stand trial in the Supreme Court of NSW this week, but the estimated 40-day hearing was scrapped after Noufl pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter in an 11th-hour admission on Wednesday.
In doing so, Noufl has admitted to killing her husband in their Greenacre home in Sydney’s west sometime between May 3 and 4, 2023.
Noufl had told psychiatrists she had an argument with her husband that turned physical and she had tried to get away from him, according to an agreed statement of facts seen by NewsWire.
Believing her life was in danger, she stabbed him with a nearby tool that was lying around, as their home was being renovated.
Mr Noufl died shortly afterwards, and his wife was spotted with a cut on her forehead, bleeding lip, and a swollen face near her jaw in the aftermath of the killing.
At some point in the following days, Noufl dismembered her husband’s body and placed his remains in garbage bags before scattering them across several suburbs including Chullora and Bexley, the documents state.
His remains have never been found.
Prosecutors conceded they could not rule out a partial argument of self-defence, with Noufl’s plea to the lesser manslaughter charge accepted on this basis.
Noufl had told a confidant that she “had enough” of being treated “like sh*t” when she killed her husband in a spur-of-the moment decision.
“We had a fight and he was laughing at me,” Noufl told a witness who cannot be identified, according to the documents.
“He just treated me like sh*t, spat at me. I had enough.
“I have been trying to ignore the voices in my head.
“I’m sorry and that I regret it, but I genuinely believe it didn’t happen, and I don’t know how I did it.”
‘No shame’: Wife asked for divorce
Noufl had received ongoing treatment for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder throughout her life.
The couple’s more than 30-year marriage was blemished by violence and infidelity, with Noufl having asked for a divorce just days before she killed her husband.
The pair were married in 1991, and Mr Noufl – who held conservative Islamic views – was “controlling of his wife”, the documents state.
He had told her in May 2023 that he planned to go Egypt to marry another woman whom he had met the year before.
Noufl asked that he divorce her before he went overseas; however, Mr Noufl refused her request but signed over power of attorney to Noufl on the day he was killed.
The 62-year-old had sent the other woman about $15,000 at some point so they could buy a home to live in Egypt together, the documents state.
The woman received a message on May 15 from Mr Noufl’s Facebook account asking that she return the money.
Unbeknown to her, Mr Noufl had been dead for nearly two weeks by this stage.
When the woman asked for Mr Noufl to send her a voice message, his account – which his wife had access to – replied: “You have no shame. You know that this money belongs to my wife Nirmeen. So even if she is the one sending the message, she (has) the right to demand it from you.”
The court documents do not make clear who sent the message from Mr Noufl’s social media account.
Noufl later wrote and sent messages from his phone to “give the appearance (Mr Noufl) was still alive”, the documents state.
She told his family he “did not want to talk to anyone because he was embarrassed and ashamed about his affair”.
When his relatives tried to visit Mr Noufl, his wife would say he was tired and did not want to see anyone.
Noufl was beamed into the courtroom via an audiovisual link on Wednesday, wearing a white hijab as she was asked how she pleaded to one count of murder.
“Not guilty … I plead guilty to manslaughter in the alternative,” Noufl said.
“Upon your plea of guilty to manslaughter I formally enter a conviction in relation to that offence,” Justice Peter Hamill said.
She will return to court for a sentence hearing on September 14.