A Sydney woman who admitted to killing and dismembering her abusive husband will spend an additional 12 months in jail, after being sentenced in the NSW supreme court on Friday. Nirmeen Noufl, 55, had pleaded guilty in August to killing Mamdouh Noufl in excessive self-defence, after prosecutors accepted her admission to the lesser charge.
Court hears of brutal disposal and abuse history
Justice Peter Hamill described the disposal of Mamdouh Noufl's body as "as thorough as it was brutal," noting that the conduct after the killing was "remarkable and chilling" and relevant to issues of remorse. The court heard that Noufl used a saw to dismember her husband's body and disposed of it in multiple garbage bags across south-west Sydney. His body was never found, and her claim that she stabbed him only once in the chest could not be tested.
Crown prosecutor Mark Hay told the court that the disposal of the body meant Noufl's version of events had to be accepted, and a murder charge could not be pursued. Noufl has been in custody since her arrest in October 2024, when she was originally charged with murder.
Judge cites extreme abuse and coercive control
Justice Hamill said an extremely traumatic childhood followed by severe domestic violence mitigated the seriousness of the killing, but the dismemberment was important to the case. "This was a gravely abusive relationship featuring violence, psychological manipulation and coercive control," the judge said. Noufl wiped away tears in court as the judge outlined the extreme violence and abuse she suffered in her childhood and marriage.
According to the agreed facts, Mamdouh Noufl held conservative Islamic views and was controlling of his wife and daughters. Just days before his death in their Greenacre home, he told his wife he met a woman in Egypt months earlier whom he planned to marry, but denied her request for a divorce. When he returned home later that day, they argued and he assaulted her, choking her as he pinned her to the ground, Noufl later told psychiatrists.
Family impact and parole eligibility
The judge acknowledged that members of Mamdouh Noufl's family would likely be disappointed with the sentence. "I hope all of you understand ... there will seem to be a gap between the loss you have suffered forever and the sentence I impose," he said.
One of Noufl's daughters told the court she would immediately uproot her life abroad and stay in Australia to help her mother attend psychiatric appointments when she is released. "If she were to be released tomorrow, I would cancel my flight," the daughter, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said. Noufl will be eligible for parole in October 2027.
