A Christian father has been accused of murdering his teenage daughter, Henriette Karra, by stabbing her repeatedly in the neck in a row over her Muslim boyfriend.
The 17-year-old girl, was found dead in her family’s home in Ramle, Israel, with several stab wounds to the neck on June 13.
Her 58-year-old father, Sami, uncle and her mother, Aliham, were all arrested for plotting her murder which came after weeks of fighting over her romance.
The teenager was in a relationship with a Muslim man who was in prison. She planned to convert to Islam upon his release.
In the weeks before her death, she fled home in fear of her life after being threatened and beaten by her father, according to The Jeruselum Post.
Henriette sent panicked text messages to friends telling them that her family was going to kill her.
One read:
‘You won’t believe what they did to me… They are sending people to kill me.
‘They are searching for me in every possible place. You don’t understand what fear this is. I don’t believe I have the strength to stand on my feet and run away.’
She went to stay with her boyfriend’s mother but her own family tracked her down and she was forced to return to them.
Police were watching the family and had placed recording devices inside the home.
According to local reports, the girl’s father was previously suspected of drug dealing.
It is not clear if the family was being monitored for those allegations or if the surveillance was ordered as a result of complaints made by Henriette.
On the night before her death, her father was heard telling her mother:
‘Forget about her, let her go to hell.
‘It’s not worth another shekel to even chase after her, she’s garbage. We need to whip her, throw her away like a dog and see how she does She’s already gone, I’m sick of her and you.’
Her mother later told police that her husband believed she had affronted the family’s honor.
The girl’s father denies the killing and is on trial in Israel.
The girl’s death prompted protests in Ramle in Israel where she was killed.
