Sydney mother Nirmeen Noufl who killed and dismembered her husband sentenced to six years behind bars

A mother who stabbed and killed her husband before dismembering his body to be dumped in rubbish bins could be released as early as next year. Nirmeen Noufl, 56, appeared before the Supreme Court for sentencing on Friday — weeks after a sensational backflip in court and admitting to killing her husband Mamdouh at their southwest Sydney home in May 2023. She had pleaded not guilty to murdering Mamdouh September last year and was expected to challenge the allegations in a trial in August only to instead plead guilty to a downgraded charge of manslaughter.

Nirmeen returned to court on Friday to hear Justice Peter Hammill’s judgement on the case, which he said had a number of “unusual” details. Court documents seen by 7NEWS.com.au revealed Nirmeen stabbed and killed Mamdouh sometime on May 3 as an argument between the couple spiralled and he became violent, chasing her around the house and striking her. Nirmeen would dismember Mamdouh’s body over the following days and pack him into rubbish bags to be disposed in rubbish bins across Sydney before cleaning the floors of her home with bleach.

Cleaning the crime scene was just part of Nirmeen’s cover-up, which included her continuing to post to social media from Mamdouh’s account and texting from his phone. But the ruse fell apart in July, with her husband’s family formally filing a missing person’s report months after he was killed and leading to her arrest. Arranged marriage the start of violent relationship Nirmeen was 10 years younger than Mamdouh when they first met at their marriage ceremony in November 1991. “Basically my dad sold me to him,” Nirmeen said in court documents.

The couple had eight children together, a number of which wrote affidavits supporting their mother’s claim that Mamdouh was controlling and abusive to Nirmeen and the couple’s daughters. Justice Hamill noted that police had been called to the family’s home a number of times, but no formal reports were made. Those recounts became a crucially relevant part of Hamill’s sentence for Nirmeen, saying it “placed the killing in a proper context”.

“The traumatising impact of being exposed to violence within the family home is well understood by the criminal courts,” Hamill said. He found that Nirmeen’s history of mental health, abuse as a child and at the hands of Mandouh were factors in her sentencing. Hamill sentenced Nirmeen to a total of six years and three months behind bars with a non-parole period of three years, meaning she will be first eligible for release in October 2027. More to come ...