Alleged murderer Sameer Syed, who was found dead in prison last week, planned to use his upcoming trial to blame his wife for the murder of their two children.
The 39-year-old computer engineer was due to stand trial on Wednesday for the murder of his estranged wife Seema Banu (37), his daughter Asfira Riza (11) and son Faizan Syed (6) at Llewellyn Court, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16 in October 2020.
Mr Syed was found dead in his cell on C Wing in the Midlands Prison on Friday afternoon. Investigations into the cause of his death are ongoing but a Garda source described it as “a tragic incident”.
Faced with a strong prosecution case placing him at the scene of the crime, Mr Syed was planning to admit to killing his estranged wife on the basis of provocation and to deny any role in the murder of his two children.
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A provocation plea involves claiming the accused suffered from a loss of self-control which substantially diminished their responsibility for the killing.
Unlike an insanity plea, it is only a partial defence to a murder charge; if a jury accepts a plea of provocation, the accused is convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Mr Syed hoped to avoid a murder conviction, and the associated mandatory life sentence, by claiming he arrived at the house to find Ms Banu had killed the children. He was expected to claim that he had then killed her in anger as a result and was not in his right mind when doing so.
If successful, Mr Syed was likely to receive a sentence of between 10 and 12 years, rather than three mandatory life sentences for the three murders.
The evidence implicating Mr Syed in all three murders was significant. He had a history of domestic violence against Ms Banu and was due in court for assaulting her on the day the bodies were found.
Gardaí believe he felt dishonoured by Ms Banu, who was planning on giving evidence against him before returning with the children to her native India. She had a barring order against him preventing him coming to her home.
Mr Syed had previously dressed in women’s clothing to make covert visits to the home during the five-month period in 2020 when he was on bail after attacking his wife. It is believed he wore a Muslim head covering going to and from the house in Rathfarnham on the day of the killings in a bid to conceal his presence.
Gardaí were also able to place him at the scene of the murder by showing his electronic devices had automatically connected to the house’s wifi router that day.
The bodies were discovered at the flooded family home several days after the killings took place. All three victims had been strangled and a tap had been left running.
Neighbours became concerned when they had not seen Ms Banu or her children for a number of days and rang gardaí. When members of the Armed Support Unit went to the house and forced their way inside the victims were found in the upstairs bedrooms.
Mr Syed was initially unco-operative with gardaí and was placed under surveillance until investigators had gathered enough evidence to arrest him one month later. In the intervening period, he led mourners at the funeral of his wife and children.
