Noor Hussein, who is a native of Pakistan, is on trial in Brooklyn for murder in the death of his 66-year-old wife, Nazar Hussein, in 2011. Prosecutors said in opening statements yesterday that Hussein was so outraged over the prospect of eating lentils that he pummeled his wife until she was a "bloody mess."
Defense attorney Julie Clark admitted that Hussein beat his wife, but said he is guilty of only manslaughter because he didn't intend to kill her.
"He comes from a culture where he thinks this is appropriate conduct, where he can hit his wife," Clark said in her opening statements at the Brooklyn state Supreme Court bench trial. "He culturally believed he had the right to hit his wife and discipline his wife."
But prosecutors said Hussein meant for his wife to die.
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"His intentions were to kill his wife," Assistant District Attorney Sabeeha Madni said in court. "This was not a man who was trying to discipline his wife."
Madni said neighbours would testify that Nazar Hussein suffered years of abuse from her husband.