'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 | This monster got 32 years.. Anyone who kills a child should be jailed for their whole life

- PAUL HEALY

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 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 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 Tamimi's sentencing hearing this week 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 caused her death.

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

But 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.

She added: "I want the law to change so that anyone who kills a child must be in prison for the rest of their whole natural life.

"This monster got about 32 years. Ten years for the attempted murder of me and 22 years for Malika. Malika would have been 40 by then. She should have had a full, beautiful life.

"I miss my baby so much - it breaks me every single day."