A 35-year-old man has been charged with the murder of his estranged wife after the mother-of-five was found dead at a unit in Sydney’s south-west.
Police urgently responded to a concern-for-welfare call to a home on Knox Street in Belmore after one of Khouloud Hawatt’s family members called triple zero at 7.50am yesterday.
Police arrived at the home eight minutes later and forced entry into the unit.
Inside the apartment, Ms Hawatt, 31, was found dead.
A crime scene was established at what police described as “a very violent murder scene”.
At 8.30am, Talaat Hawatt, 35, was arrested by Campbelltown police along with officers from the Raptor Squad.
Mr Hawatt is the estranged husband of Ms Hawatt.
He was taken to Campbelltown Police Station and was said to be assisting police with their inquiries.
About 1.15am today, police announced they had charged him with domestic-violence-related murder and other offences.
Ms Hawatt had an apprehended violence order in place against her husband, Superintendent Sheridan Waldau from NSW Police alleged today.
“He has come under the notice of (domestic violence operation) Amarok before, and he had a compliance check by Campsie police in August,” Waldau said.
“Everything was complied with at that time.”
Waldau said police had only “minimal” interaction with Mr Hawatt in recent months.
Police had been called to speak to Mr Hawatt on Monday after a minor interaction between him and a teacher at a school.
Police spoke to the man about the incident, but Waldau said he had not committed any offences at that time.
“At this stage, there is nothing that Campsie police have failed to do, or NSW Police have failed to do, that we can see in any of the matters that we’ve had to do with him,” Waldau said.
Waldau said no weapons had been seized at this stage, but said Mr Hawatt has a history of weapons offences.
She said there were only “standard conditions” on the AVO against him.
“It’s very difficult to enforce these things if they don’t get reported, and that’s the biggest thing with domestic violence, it’s that the victims don’t come forward,” she said.
“It’s not just a problem for police, it is a problem for the community.
“And really, the family members and friends of these people, we need to encourage them to report to us, because we can’t help them if they don’t ask for help.
“We know that it takes victims sometimes up to 27 times before they will come and seek help from us.
“It’s a problem for all of society not just for NSW Police, but it’s really a tragedy when things like this happen and there are children involved.
“There are no winners in any of these home matters, there are children with no parents now.”
Mr Hawatt was refused bail to appear in Campbelltown Local Court today.
He is also facing charges of contravening an apprehended domestic violence order, using a prohibited weapon contrary to prohibition order and failing to comply with digital evidence access order direction