MAN JAILED FOR KILLING GIRLFRIEND AND HER SISTER
A Birmingham man who carried out a brutal attack resulting in the deaths of his girlfriend and her sister was sentenced to life imprisonment today.Mohammed Ali, 29, used three knives to murder Yasmine and Sabrina Larbi-Cherif, whose bodies, partially clothed and covered in blood, were found in their apartment in September.
Presiding over the case, Mr Justice Hamblen at the Royal Courts of Justice in London imposed a minimum term of 34 years, noting Ali's absence from court.
The judge condemned the act as a savage and merciless slaughter, stating, "You barbarically and brutally butchered these two girls, turning their flat into a cauldron of blood." Ali's claim that he was provoked into violence was rejected, with the judge clarifying, "This wasn't a case of provocation.
It was a case of anger and retribution in the case of Yasmine and of cover-up in the case of Sabrina." The judge pointed out that Ali had shown no remorse for killing two vibrant and well-educated young women.
He criticized Ali's disrespect for the victims and said he had offered no apology to their grieving family members, causing immense pain.
The sisters, originally from Algeria, moved to the UK with their parents and three brothers in 1998.
Yasmine, who met Ali in 2006, was pregnant twice by him, leading to two terminations.
In February last year, Yasmine accused Ali of rape, resulting in Ali's five-month remand in custody.
The charges were eventually dropped after she chose not to testify in court.
Although they resumed their relationship after his release, tensions grew before the tragic events.
On September 14, Ali attacked Yasmine twice and inflicted 35 separate knife wounds on Sabrina.
He then moved their bodies into a bedroom before leaving the scene, as the trial revealed.
CCTV footage captured him leaving the flat, and he was apprehended at a Dover ferry terminal trying to escape to France two days later.
The jury deliberated for three hours and twenty minutes before finding Ali guilty of both murders.
