Muslim man sentenced to eight years for wife’s death

A Muslim man who left his wife to die for five days after he said he found her tied up and badly injured in their home has been jailed for at least eight years.

Mohamed Naddaf pleaded guilty to the criminally negligent manslaughter of Ashlee Brown, 25,who died in their 'unkempt and dirty' Craigieburn home in Melbourne’s north in November 2016.

Justice John Champion said Ms Brown was found in the passenger seat of the couple's car after having been subjected to a 'deliberate and frenzied assault' and tied up with clothesline wire.

The mother of three children under five had been bashed, stabbed, gagged and had her long strawberry blonde hair cut off. 

Naddaf helped Ms Brown to the bathroom, putting her down on a flannelette sheet on the floor, and fed her water through a syringe for five days.

He finally called triple zero on November 6 after Ms Brown died from complications arising from more than 100 injuries including internal and external bleeding.

Naddaf was sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment and must serve at least eight years before being eligible for parole.

When Ashlee was about 20 she rang her mother to say she was pregnant and wanted her blessing to convert to Islam and marry Naddaf.

'She said to me, "Mum, I need your blessing to become Muslim". She said "I'm three months' pregnant and I'm engaged to Mohamed. I would really like to marry him, mum, and settle down and have a baby".

'I said to her, "Darling, I don't know anything about the Muslim religion. As long as you know what you're doing".

'I said, "Do you have to wear one of those burqas or hijabs?" I didn't know what they were called.

'She said, "No mum, only when I go into the mosque because it's disrespectful for a woman to show her face before God".

'I said to Ashlee, "As long as you're making a fully informed decision and it's what you really want".'

Ashlee said that it was.

'There was a pause after that,' Ms Brown said. 'She said. "Thank you, mum". And then her voice seemed to change and she said, "It's Islam". That didn't mean anything to me at the time.

'We said goodbye to each other and we hung up and I didn't hear from Ashlee again.'

Justice Champion said Naddaf's motivation was unclear. The court heard Naddaf had a significant criminal history and was a long-term drug user, taking heroin, marijuana and ice.

'The Crown is not in a position to prove who inflicted the injuries upon Ms Brown,' Justice Champion said.

Ashlee's mother had not been in contact with her daughter for five years and believes it was an 'honour killing'.

Ashlee’s mother said she was a fun-loving little girl,  'She was giving, she was loving, she loved the sun and the beach, she loved to sing and dance.