'If only he stopped.. my Malika would still be alive'

Agony at learning of fatal stab to heart after ex-partner cut her daughter's throat

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A WOMAN whose partner murdered her eight-year-old daughter in front of her has told of her heartbreak at learning how she might have survived, had he only stopped.

Aisha Noor Al Katib, whose little girl Malika was stabbed to death by Mohammed Al Shaker Al Tamimi, 35, at their home in New Ross, Co Wexford, last December, is also calling on the law to be changed so that killers like him receive whole-life sentences.

Today she spoke of her pain in court at learning that tragic Malika, who had her throat cut as Al Tamimi smiled at her mother, did not die from this initial attack but from the further stab injuries inflicted by the killer.

Ms Al Katib added: "I am so heartbroken to learn the fact that Malika didn't die from the throat cut but the one in her heart. If he stopped she would be alive."

It came as Al Tamimi's sentencing hearing heard how a pathologist ultimately identified three stab wounds and four incised wounds on Malika's body. They included a stab wound to the back that penetrated the ribs, lungs and the sac around the heart - which caused her death.

The wound to her throat did not damage any major arteries and did not cause her death, according to the pathologist.

On Monday, Al Tamimi was jailed for life for the murder of his young daughter and received an additional 10 years to be served before his life sentence begins.

MANIPULATIVE

The killer met Aisha in Belfast in 2015 and they had Malika in August 2016. They later split up with Aisha describing him as a "manipulative monster" who controlled her for years.

Aisha went to live with her mother in Tramore in Waterford from 2017 but was reunited with Al Tamimi during a visit to the UK in 2023 and he came to live in New Ross with them in 2024.

Now, speaking to this paper, Ms Al Katib - who says she misses her daughter every day - believes a whole-life sentence should be imposed for monsters like him.