An
Ethiopian refugee will spend at least 12 years in prison after pleading guilty
Tuesday in the 2013 strangulation death of his wife during a fight about money.
Arab Mohamed Ali, 35, was charged in February 2013 with the first-degree murder
of 23-year-old Safaya Dadacha. He struck a deal Tuesday with the High Point
District Attorney’s Office and pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of
second-degree murder, receiving a sentence between 12 and nearly 15-and-a-half
years imprisonment with credit for time served. High Point police responded the
afternoon of Feb. 18, 2013, to 2113 Wingate Place in reference to a domestic
violence call, prosecutor Christon Halkiotis said during the Tuesday
proceedings. Ali called 911, she said.
Officers
found Ali and the two children he had with Dadacha, ages 5 and 2, outside the
residence. Dadacha was discovered on the floor inside, unresponsive, her head
covered by a green cloth. Halkiotis said police asked Ali if the woman was
asleep.
“‘I
think she died,’” Ali responded, according to the prosecutor. “Officers noted
the defendant was not emotional and did not act as if anything was wrong.” Officers
uncovered Dadacha, summoned for EMS then moved throughout the house to make
sure no one else was inside, Halkiotis said. When they returned to Dadacha, the
green cloth again was draped over her head. Detectives later determined that
type of covering is a custom for the dead in Ethiopia, the couple’s native
country. “Officers noticed signs of ligature strangulation,” Halkiotis said.
“EMS arrived and began tending to the victim. Officers noted there were food
items in the kitchen which looked like someone was preparing a meal. They also
noticed a steak knife lying on the floor.” When emergency personnel transported
Dadacha from the home to the hospital, she was still alive. Ali told police his
wife had cut him on his hand the week before, Halkiotis said. “He claimed she
slept with a knife and threatened him with it,” she said. “He said that she
‘makes me crazy.’” Ali told detectives he had given her a check, and she and
her brother had changed the amount. They argued that day about money. “He
claimed his wife attacked him and grabbed him by the throat and threw a knife
at him,” Halkiotis said. Their children were downstairs at the time of the
struggle. Ali admitted he grabbed his wife around the neck while they fought,
he pushed her away and punched her. “He then claimed his wife started to
strangle herself with a scarf,” the prosecutor said. Ali reported he went
outside and, when he returned, his wife was unconscious on the floor. Detectives
also interviewed Dadacha’s brother, Kamal Dadacha, who said he previously had
seen the couple argue about money. He also said Ali had struck his sister in
the past. Dadacha’s sister told him her husband did not give her money for the
children and she had thought about leaving with them. Ali reportedly told his
wife, “If you ask me again, I’m going to kill you,” Halkiotis said, referencing
what Dadacha told detectives. Detectives originally charged Ali with attempted
murder. When Dadacha died from her injuries the following day, on Feb. 19,
2013, he was charged with first-degree murder. Superior Court Judge John O. “Joe”
Craig III told Ali via an interpreter on Tuesday that the second-degree murder
charge to which he was pleading carries a maximum punishment of life in prison
without parole. Ali stood before him in an orange jumpsuit marked with black
letters, “Guilford County Jail,” and answered the judge’s questions through the
interpreter, who translated the Oromo language by phone from Washington state. The
plea arrangement to which Ali was agreeing stipulated he would be sentenced at
the bottom of the mitigating range, 144-185 months, Craig said. If Ali does not
have U.S. citizenship, his guilty plea could result in deportation. Craig asked
if Ali accepted the arrangement. “Yes, what else can I do, your honor?” Ali
said through the interpreter.Ali’s attorney disputed he was emotionless.
“My
client is very remorseful, incredibly remorseful about this tragic series of
events,” lawyer Stanley Hammer said. “Any suggestion he was cold-hearted, I
think, is misplaced. A more accurate reading is he was in shock.”
Ali
and his wife were refugees originally from the Oromo area of Ethiopia, Hammer
said. Subject to persecution, they fled to the United States.
“At
the time of this offense, my client was gainfully employed and working
diligently to support his family,” Hammer said. “I hope the court will also
consider that he is the one that called 911.”
Craig
found those mitigating factors and sentenced Ali to a minimum of 144 months and
a maximum of 185 months in prison with credit for time served. Attorney’s fees
and court costs will go to a civil judgment due to his lengthy prison term.
Kamal
Dadacha was in the courtroom as Ali was handcuffed and escorted out by
bailiffs.
Halkiotis
said she had been unable to get in touch with Dadacha since the incident
despite numerous attempts, and a lack of cooperation factored into the state’s
plea offer. Dadacha has gone through the adoption process to adopt his sister’s
two children, now 6 and 4. Outside the courtroom, he said he was pleased with
the outcome but added Ali gave no statement of remorse. “I’m really satisfied.
He pleaded guilty,” Dadacha said. “But he did not say anything. He does not
even care what happened.” Source ( hpe.com)
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