‘Honor killings’ trial starts for Texas father accused of gunning down daughters
Posted For: Willie Wonka
A Texas father who once landed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list is headed to trial in the alleged “honor killings” of his two daughters more than a decade ago.
Yaser Said is accused of shooting dead his daughters, Sarah, 17, and Amina, 18, in 2008 because he was upset they were dating, family and friends have said.
Jury selection in the case began Monday in Dallas and jurors are expected to hear harrowing testimony, including from Sarah’s 911 call just before she died.
“My father shot me. I’m dying … I’m dying,” she told the dispatcher after being shot nine times, reported WFAA.
Friends and family said Said was unhappy that his teenage daughters were dating. Family members believe the girls were victims of “honor killings” because their father thought they had brought shame to the family, reported the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
“He followed them everywhere he went and recorded their every move,” family friend Ruth Trotter told WFAA.
Investigators allege Said took his daughters for a ride in a cab he had borrowed on New Year’s Day under the guise that they were going to get dinner. Instead, he drove them to a hotel near Irving, Texas and allegedly shot both of them inside his taxi.
Police eventually found the sisters’ bodies inside the cab near the Omni Hotel in Irving. Amina was shot twice.
Said has denied killing his daughters.
After the alleged slayings, Said went on the run and landed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list — with authorities initially believing he might have fled to Egypt or New York City.
But 12 years later, he was found hiding in Justin, Texas — about 40 miles away from where the killings happened.
Said’s son and brother were convicted of helping him hide, reported the Star Telegram.
Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty for Said, however, he will automatically serve life in prison without parole of he’s convicted.
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