- Stabbed to death his wife and three little children
- Husband became the prime suspect as no sign of breakin was found by police
- Recent spike in multiple family crimes in the country
Cairo: A medical doctor in an Egyptian Delta province has admitted to having stabbed to death his wife and three little children, the latest in a series of chilling family crimes committed by a dad in the largely conservative country.
The 30-year-old wife and her three children aged four, six and eight were found dead inside their apartment in the district of Sakhah in the governorate of Kafr Al Shaikh, around 140 kilometres north of Cairo.
The killings triggered panic in the area as the husband, a doctor at a local hospital, reported to police he had discovered the murder of his family and the disappearance of his wife’s jewellery on his return from work on the New Year’s Eve.
The murder was extensively reported in the Egyptian media and sent shock waves across the nation.
The 36-year-old husband became the prime suspect after police found all doors and windows of the family’s apartment intact, ruling out that theft was the motive for the crime.
The man, identified as Ahmad A., later admitted to having committed the murder due to a long-running dispute with his wife and her family.
“I also killed my children to rid them of trouble in this life,” he reportedly told investigators.
He said he had used a kitchen knife in the crime and thrown his wife’s jewellery into a roadside canal in order to mislead police.
He is to remain in police custody pending further questioning.
I also killed my children to rid them of trouble in this life
The bodies of the four victims were buried after a solemn funeral attended by thousands of locals in their hometown, semi-official newspaper Al Ahram reported.
The murder has raised worries about a recent spike in multiple family crimes in the country. In July, a man was arrested over killing his wife and two daughters inside their house in Cairo, citing financial problems.
A month later, a man in the Delta governorate of Dakahlia was charged with killing his two children by throwing them into the River Nile allegedly under the influence of drugs.
Both defendants are being tried.
Some experts see no reason for alarm, though.
“Family crimes are not a phenomenon in Egypt, which has a population of 100 million. They are not confined to the Egyptian society and are to be found elsewhere in the world too,” Farid Shukry, a psychologist, said.
“These crimes are often due to psychological, economic or social problems,” Shukry told Gulf News.
“Initially doubts overwhelm the person. Then, these doubts develop into hallucinations that prompt the person to commit a crime under the belief that this will make him/her overcome these hallucinations.”
