Husband Jailed For Ferocious Screwdriver Murder

A husband who tortured and killed his wife with screwdrivers, metal bars and an electric drill has been jailed for a minimum of 23 years.

Thahi Harroba Manaa, 37, launched the assault on Sara Al Shourefi, 28, last March while his mother and two youngest children were also at their Sheffield home.

Psychiatrists agreed Manaa was suffering from a serious psychotic illness at the time of the attack and he had admitted manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.

But this was rejected by the jury who found him guilty of murder a week ago.

Sheffield Crown Court heard Ms Shourefi had suffered domestic abuse at the hands of her husband over a sustained period of time but she believed it was culturally unacceptable to go to the police against her husband.

Sentencing Manna, Mrs Justice Cox told him: "Sara was subjected to extreme and sustained violence over the course of at least one hour and possibly as long as one-and-three-quarter hours, in what was a ferocious and chilling attack of unimaginable barbarity."

"The pain, terror, anguish and desperation she would therefore have suffered, as you inflicted these appalling injuries upon her and ended her life, is truly horrifying to contemplate."

The court heard Ms Shourefi, Manaa and their children had come to the UK from Kuwait in 2010.

In a statement issued after Manaa was found guilty last week, Ms Shourefi's sister said: "I am still in deep shock about what has happened to Sara.

"She was such a lovely natured person, gentle and kind, she did everything Thahi asked of her but he treated her so badly, thinking of the suffering she must have gone through at his hands, it breaks my heart.

"Justice has now been done for Sara and for my family. I think that the British justice system is fair and has come to the right conclusion and because of this great system it has been proved for sure that Thahi is evil and intentionally caused my sister to suffer, something which I knew all along."

Detective Chief Inspector Zaf Ali, who led the investigation, said: "This was a horrific and brutal attack on a woman that has left four young children without their mother and a family completely destroyed."