Hassan Jabbie allegedly murdered Janet Dweh after she refused to abort baby, Perth court told
A Perth man accused of killing his heavily pregnant lover with a claw hammer did so because she wouldn’t abort his baby, a Perth court has been told.
Hassan W Jabbie, 52, is on trial in the WA Supreme Court charged with the murder of 36-year-old Janet Dweh on or around October 3, 2021 at her Dayton home in Perth’s north-east.
Ms Dweh, a registered nurse, was eight months pregnant when Mr Jabbie allegedly hit her around 30 times with the hammer on her face, head and arm.
The baby she was carrying also died, prosecutor Paul Usher said.
Western Australia’s homicide laws do not recognise unborn children.
In his opening address, Mr Usher said Mr Jabbie sent Ms Dweh a series of messages before the alleged killing, urging her to terminate her pregnancy.
Mr Usher said CCTV showed Mr Jabbie and his then-wife went to Ms Dweh’s house on September 3, 2021, and spent about an hour inside before they both left.
Voicemail heard in court
Two days later Mr Jabbie sent Ms Dweh a 33-minute voice message where he called her a “prostitute, “harlot” and “disgrace to humanity”.
“If I hear my name, my name mentioned from your stinking self, I will be left with no alternative but to reach out to you, to reach out to you, it will be ugly,” part of the recorded message played to the court said.
The court heard Ms Dweh’s three children had been taken to the Perth Royal Show by their uncle and were not at home on the night police believe she died.
When Ms Dweh’s brother couldn’t reach her the following day, he became worried and went to her house before he called a locksmith and found her dead.
Police interviewed Mr Jabbie twice before charging him with Ms Dweh’s murder.
During the interviews, Mr Jabbie said he told Ms Dweh to terminate the pregnancy and that, as he was still “technically” married at the time, “it would look bad”.
Undercover officer used during investigation
The trial heard Mr Jabbie told an undercover police officer posing as a detainee he buried a number of items in a vacant block across from his house on Iwasaki Crest in Ellenbrook, including a backpack, items of clothing and a metal object he said he hit the deceased with.
Police found a blood-stained claw hammer and pair of gloves containing a DNA profile that matched Ms Dweh’s buried at the site
A DNA profile matching Mr Jabbie was found on other items, including a pair of pants buried nearby.
Police also found the hard drive from Ms Dweh’s CCTV unit buried in the vacant block, which Mr Usher said showed Mr Jabbie arriving at Ms Dweh’s home at 7:50pm on October 3 and donning gloves.
Mr Usher said Mr Jabbie murdered Ms Dweh, then unplugged the hard drive from her CCTV.
He then drove back to his home and buried the items in the lot adjacent to his house.
‘False confession’ claim
But defence lawyer Sean Dworcan said the CCTV footage was not clear enough to see who entered the house that night.
Mr Dworcan said his client believed Ms Dweh had been romantically involved with a number of men, and he would explore whether others had a motive to kill her.
He said when his client spoke to the undercover officer he had been in custody for 12 hours and was very tired, and “circumstances were right for him to make a false confession”.
Mr Dworcan said none of Mr Jabbie’s DNA was found in the bedroom, nor were his fingerprints located at the scene.
He conceded Mr Jabbie had urged Ms Dweh to have an abortion in the early stages of the pregnancy, and was bothered Ms Dweh had told some people he was the father.
But Mr Dworcan said he was not convinced the child was his.
“It makes no sense he would kill her to prevent her from giving birth to a son that may or may not be his,” Mr Dworcan said.
The trial is set down for three weeks.
Credit News Source https://www.abc.net.au/