Chicago Man Murders Wife with Weightlifting Bar While 4-Year-Old Son Watched
This is horrifying:
A Tinley Park man beat his wife with a weightlifting curling bar Wednesday as their 4-year-old son watched, Will County prosecutors said Thursday at a hearing for the 47-year-old man.
Bahaa A. Sam was charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Nermeen Gamal Sam, 38. An autopsy report stated she was hit in the head more than 10 times. Bahaa Sam is being held on a $5 million bail.
We should probably ban all curling bars, and let’s excoriate the National Weightlifting Association [is there such a thing?]. And don’t give me none of that “weightlifting bars don’t kill people, Bahaa Sam kills people” rightwing propaganda!!
Tinley Park Police responded at about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 19, to an ambulance call to the home in the 19700 block of Silverside Drive, a police press release stated. A Tinley Park public works employee had spotted Nermeen Sam’s body next to a tree outside and called 911, Chief Steve Neubauer said.
When officers arrived at the scene, they found Nermeen Sam face down in the grass, covered in blood, prosecutors said. Police also reported blood spatters on the sidewalk and driveway, as well as a pool of blood on the grass. The curling bar was on the ground next to the body, prosecutors said.
The first person officers encountered when they entered the Sam home was the couple’s 4-year-old son. According to prosecutors, the boy, whose face and clothing had blood spatters, told police, “Daddy killed my mommy.”
Police then saw Bahaa Sam, who also had blood on his clothing and skin, prosecutors.
“Are you taking her to the hospital? Is she dead?” Bahaa Sam asked officers, according to prosecutors.
What else is to blame other than the weightlifting bar? The terrible economy:
In an interview with police, Bahaa Sam said Wednesday’s incident started with an argument over the fact that he was unemployed. Nermeen Sam went to leave the house, and Bahaa Sam tried to stop her before she bit his finger, drawing blood, prosecutors said.
He then chased her outside with the curling bar, while the 4-year-old son followed, according to prosecutors. Bahaa Sam told police he hit her once in the head, and she fell, adding that he hit her a second time after that.
However, an autopsy report by the Will County Coroner’s Office stated she was hit more than 10 times.
I don’t understand how Chicago, having been blessed by the presence of Jaime Foxx’s “lord and savior” Barack Obama could still be mired in such violence after so much community organizing by the demi-god. Not only that, but he’s completely healed the earth, beaten back the recession, and lowered the sea levels right?
The man had a long history of domestic violence, as reported in the Tinley Park Patch [emphasis added]:
Police had responded to multiple domestic violence calls involving the Sams, and Bahaa Sam had been charged, Neubauer said. In a phone interview Thursday, the chief said he did not immediately have the information concerning how many times police responded, when the most recent call was or when Bahaa Sam had been charged.
According to the Will County Circuit Court website, Bahaa Sam was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery, which was reduced to battery, in June of this year. An emergency protective order against him also was filed that same month by Nermeen Sam and the couple’s four children, records indicate. That order was dropped in July, according to court records.
Bahaa Sam also was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery and resisting a police officer in October 2005, according to Will County Circuit Court records. He was found not guilty on the domestic battery charge and guilty on the charge of resisting an officer, court records state.
He was said to be carrying both an American passport and an Egyptian passport, but it wasn’t reported if he was an immigrant or had dual citizenship. Also, friends said that the victim, his wife, was a devout Coptic Christian, who wouldn’t leave him because of her religious beliefs. May she rest in peace.
