When Norhan A. ( aged 36) left the house that was supposed to be her shelter on August 28, her killer was already waiting for her hiding in the bushes.
Suddenly, her ex-husband Yasser B. (50) stood in front of her, pounced on the woman as if out of his mind, punched her and pulled her to the ground. According to witnesses, he repeatedly shouted ‘You whore’.
Witness Inga W. ( aged 50) then bravely intervened and protected the victim with her body. In vain – Yasser B. pulled out a kitchen knife and rammed it three times into his ex-wife’s upper body. One stab went straight through the heart. Then the killer watched motionless as his ex-wife died. Her final words: ‘The children …’
It was a murder that had been predicted for years. A femicide that leaves one question above all unanswered: Why didn’t anyone stop the murderer?
Norhan and Yasser were married from 2009 to 2022. Both Lebanese, Yasser’s asylum application was rejected back in 2002. Since then, the authorities have repeatedly extended his residence permit. When he reached for the knife, it had been expired for seven days.
After the separation in summer 2020 and the divorce in June 2022, Yasser repeatedly stalked his ex-wife and sent her vicious threats, for example: ‘I’ll kill you, I’ll take your soul.’
She repeatedly reported him to the police and he was repeatedly convicted. Yasser B. has 44 entries in his criminal record, 31 of which are for domestic violence, stalking and violation of an existing violence protection order. He has also been convicted of threatening behaviour and assault.
Yasser B. never complied with the no-contact and no-proximity order and also found the sheltered flat in the Berlin district of Zehlendorf where Norhan B. had been accommodated. Photos show him walking up and down in front of the house. The public prosecutor’s office is certain: ‘The accused decided to kill her out of excessive possessiveness and massive jealousy.’ On August 28, he hid in the bushes in the early evening.
After the crime, Yasser had himself arrested in bloodstained trousers and, according to the police, said: ‘His children are better now and he has restored his honour.’
Just a few hours before she was killed, Norhan A. posted a status message on WhatsApp. In it, she wrote about being ‘rescued from the hands of the Shaytan’ – Arabic for ‘Satan’. Her relatives are certain: the devil – by which Norhan meant her ex-husband Yasser.
The family is in shock: ‘She had to die because she was a woman. A woman who wanted to regain her freedom and lead a self-determined life as a woman,’ says niece Rima A. (aged 37).
The trial has not yet been scheduled, but will start by the end of February at the latest.
https://www.bz-berlin.de/berlin/frauenmord-norhan-zehlendorf-femizid