An Auckland man who admitted to stabbing his wife and daughter to death has been sentenced to 18 years and six months in prison.
Ishrat Malik, 55, was silent in the dock at the High Court in Auckland as Justice Simon Moore handed down his sentence this morning.
Rana Malik, 56, and Noor Malik, 18, were found stabbed to death at their Pooks Rd property in Ranui on May 19 last year.
At 5:30am that day, Malik called in sick to work and phoned 111 five hours later saying, "murder, murder, murder".
He then called one of his daughters, Rida Malik, and told her he killed her mother and sister.
Police later arrived to find Malik covered in dried blood. He said, "I murder", according to an affidavit from Detective Sergeant Steve Salton.
Ms Malik spoke in court of the day her mother and sister died, describing it as a being "like a dream or a nightmare".
"I stopped eating, I couldn't sleep. My one-year-old son was so confused because I couldn't stop mourning for mum and sister," she said in her victim impact statement.
Ms Malik described seeing the stab wounds and imagining the struggle her sister would have put up against her father.
"I no longer have my sister to share my secrets with, or my mother for good advice," she told the court.
"I couldn't believe the first ever funeral in my life would be that of my mum and younger sister.
"I feel so numb. At times I feel I will never be happy or normal again."
Ms Malik also read out victim impact statements from her bother, Muhammad Malik, and her grandmother, Siddiqua Khatoon.
Her brother said his life was turned upside down after the deaths of his mother and sister.
"There is so much more pain and sorrow in my life. My studies were badly affected, I lost all hope and focus."
Ms Khatoon's statement spoke of how her family hid the truth from her due to her advanced age and health problems.
They had initially told her the pair were badly injured in an accident and were in hospital.
"I prayed and cried to God to save my children, little did I know they had already passed away," Ms Khatoon said in her statement.
She said she came to New Zealand to find peace, but only yearned for her lost daughter and granddaughter more.
Both of Malik's children said in their statement they feared for their safety if or when he is released from prison and asked for a protection order to be placed against their father.
Malik initially denied the double murder charge, but later changed his plea to guilty after undergoing psychiatric assessments to determine whether he was fit to stand trial.
After a hearing, experts found Malik wasn't suffering from dissociative amnesia or psychosis as initially thought and appeared to be feigning and exaggerating his symptoms.
3 News
source: newshub archive
