A Perth man has been jailed for life after brutally murdering his wife, whose last words were "I love you".
Ahmed Seedat, a 37-year-old accountant, bludgeoned Fahima Yusuf, 32, to death with a wheel brace on August 31 last year before burying her in the backyard of their family home in the Perth suburb of Carlisle.
Seedat was charged with her murder in September after his wife's body was discovered in a shallow grave. He pleaded guilty in January to murdering Yusuf while their two-year-old and five-year-old slept in another room.
He was sentenced to life behind bars on Monday (local time).
According to ABC News, Seedat told police that Yusuf told him she loved him while he bludgeoned her to death.
Supreme Court Judge, Bruno Fiannaca, described the murder as "brutal", "callous" and "cowardly".
"I am satisfied you had planned the murder for some weeks and you had egotistical motives," Fiannaca said in court.
Seedat's Internet history revealed a number of disturbing searches in the weeks before the murder. He reportedly searched terms such as "burying a cat", "cremating a body" and "burying someone aliv [sic]", according to ABC News.
Seedat also searched: "Can you marry brother in law if sister dead, muslim".
This evidence, coupled with Seedat's text message history with his sister-in-law, led prosecutors to believe Seedat wanted to pursue a relationship with Yusuf's sister.
He told police that his wife was emotionally abusive and "sexually aggressive", her "sexual demands" causing him to attack her on the night of the murder.
"You thought you could get away with killing your wife by creating a ruse that she was acting irrationally and irresponsibly," Fiannaca said in court on Monday.
According to ABC News, the court also heard Seedat was facing a string of fraud charges. As the former director of a Perth accounting firm, Seedat allegedly used millions of dollars of his clients' money to fund his gambling.
He reportedly plans to plead guilty to these charges.
Seedat has been sentenced to life in jail with a non-parole period of 23 years.
Newshub.
