Convert from Islam in court, accused of murder

On October 10, 2006 we reported on the strange case of a 17-year old girl whose announcement that she was converting to Christianity led to a ferocious argument with her Bangladeshi parents. The argument took place at the apartment home of Dr Muhammad Hussain in a condominium on Smith Street, Albatross Park at Southport on Australia's Gold Coast.

The daughter of Dr Hussain, who was not then named, is currently subject to committal hearings at Southport Magistrates Court. She is Kaihana Tahseen Hussain, now aged 18. She has been charged with murder (of her mother). The current proceedings are the reconvened proceedings which had begun in May 2007.

When the argument at the house broke out around 7 pm on October 9, 2006, neighbors heard screams and shouting coming from the unit. Dr Hussein had moved to the apartment a month previously, and his wife and daughter had joined him there after living in Adelaide.

Caitlin Dalton had then told reporters: "She (Kaihana Tahseen Hussain) was yelling, 'Help me, help me, they're trying to kill me'. Everybody heard the screams but we couldn't work out which unit they were coming from. Then this girl emerged in the stairwell hysterical and crying. Her clothes had been ripped off, she was just in her underwear and she had quite severe scratches down her arm and across her back."

In the apartment, the teenager's 41-year old mother Yasmine (Shaheda) was found lying dead, with stab wounds in her chest. Mohammed Hussain was also injured, with a single stab wound.

The news of the current court committal proceedings comes from the Courier Mail, Gold Coast News and News.com.au. The proceedings began on Sunday., when residents of the housing complex gave evidence of their recollections of the event.

Emma Coughlan had arrived and had held a towel to Mohammed Hussain's chest to staunch his bleeding. She said that he had sobbed: "My daughter, my daughter. I've lost my daughter." She said she had heard someone say that the doctor and his wife had just discovered their daughter had converted to Christianity.

Kayla Bartholomai, another resident, said she heard a "high-pitched scream" and then saw Kaihana Hussain, who was near-hysterical and saying: "My parents, they killed each other and they tried to kill me."

Andrew McIntosh of the University of New South Wales school of biomechanics, said that the wounds on Dr Hussain were inconsistent with self-inflicted injury.

On Monday, forensic officer Anne-Louise Swain said that the injuries on Kaihana were consistent with the girl's assertion that her father had killed her mother and attempted to kill her before stabbing himself. Dr Swain was unable to state categorically that the teenage girl's injuries had been sustained while defending herself from attack or performing an attack.

Dr Swain had examined the girl on the night of the incident, and saw scratches, bruises and bite marks. Kaihana had said then that her father had killed her mother, and then had tried to strangle her and had slammed her fingers in a door. The girl had dried blood on her hands, but when this was removed there were no injuries on her hands.

Kaihana had told police that her father once had threatened to kill her if she abandoned Islam. Dr Swain also said that Kaihana had said that her mother had also, duriing an argument, attempted to strangle her three months before the night of October 9, 2006.

A paramedic who had treated Dr Hussein, Rodney Benson, told the court that the doctor had asked the police to arrest his daughter as "she stabbed me and my wife."

Today, DNA expert Kylie Rika told the court that the DNA of Mrs Hussein was on the bloodied trousers worn by Dr Hussain on the night she died. The blood of both parents was found on