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Father of three gets 18 years in jail for stabbing wife to death

A 42-year-old man was on Tuesday sentenced to 18 years in prison for murdering his wife by stabbing her 56 times.

Published: 1 November 2017 11:36 CET
Father of three gets 18 years in jail for stabbing wife to death
Photo: Kuzmafoto/Depositphotos
The Afghan man was also ordered to pay 50,000 francs in damages to each of his three children, who are now living in care, reported news agency ATS. 
 
The case dates to November 2015 when a row broke out between the man and his 30-year-old wife in their apartment in Gipf-Oberfrick, in the canton of Aargau, while their children – aged 6, 9 and 11 – were at school.
 
The man beat and tried to strangle his wife before she fled into the garden. He pursued her with a kitchen knife and stabbed her 56 times, the court heard.
 
A neighbour came across the scene and called the police, who found the woman dead in the garden. 
 
The president of the Laufenburg district court called the act a “massacre” and said the man was a “predator who hounded his prey until she died”.
 
After initially denying the facts, the accused later admitted he killed his wife but said he didn’t intend to. 
 
From Afghanistan, the family arrived in Switzerland as asylum seekers in 2011. Their request for asylum was refused but they remained in Switzerland on a provision basis for humanitarian reasons, said ATS. 
 
The woman and their children were well integrated but not the man, according to the court.
 
Police had been called to the family’s home several months before the murder, when the man had threatened a neighbour with a knife. 
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CRIME

‘Your permit is invalid’: How scammers in Switzerland target foreigners

Scores of foreign residents have received an email recently telling them their residency rights in Switzerland have been revoked.

Published: 26 April 2024 11:17 CEST
'Your permit is invalid': How scammers in Switzerland target foreigners

A number of foreign nationals, especially in the German-speaking part of the country, have received an official-looking letter, purportedly from the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) informing them that the Free Movement of People agreement between Switzerland and the EU has been nullified, and therefore “your residence permit is no longer valid.”

Faced with enquiries from concerned recipients, SEM responded that the letter is fake, advising recipients to ignore it and, above all, not to click on the QR code on the top.

“Fake letters from the SEM have been circulating since the beginning of this week,” the immigration authority said on its website as well as on X (formerly Twitter).  

“The letter has no impact on the recipient’s  residence status,” SEM added.

Fake jobs, real threats

However, this is only the latest scam perpetrated in the name of SEM.

There have been others in the past.

For instance, many foreigners have also received emails from addresses swissimmigration@consultant or eu_immigration@consultant, that pretend to be the Swiss immigration authority.

“In most cases, a fictitious job in the hotel industry is offered, with the senders demanding payment of 300 to 1,000 euros for a permit in Switzerland and for health and accident insurance,” SEM reported.

The first clue that this email doesn’t come from  SEM, which is part of Switzerland’s government, is that it is asking for payment in euros. If the scammers were smarter, they’d demand Swiss francs.

“These e-mails do not come from the SEM and should be considered as an attempt at fraud,” the agency said. 

Extortion attempt

And a few years ago, a number of foreigners received emails coming allegedly from SEM, Swiss border control authorities, or even the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol).

They threatened to revoke the victim’s residence permit or even expel them from the country altogether if they didn’t pay a certain sum of money into an anonymous account.

Needless to say, no government authority would ever resort to blackmail or demand payment for such ‘services’.

So a good rule to remember (for foreigners and Swiss alike) is that if threats and pressure are involved, letters / emails / phone calls ( WhatsUp messages are more than likely scams.
 
READ ALSO: The common scams foreigners in Switzerland need to be aware of 

Don’t respond

SEM as well as police urge everyone contacted by scammers, by whatever means to:

  • Ignore these messages by hanging up the phone and / or deleting emails, moving them to the Spam folder
  • Never give out your credit card number or bank account information to people you don’t know
  • If you did give your card number, contact your credit card company immediately to have the card blocked. Likewise, if you gave out your banking details, get in touch with your bank.
  • In the event of threats of extortion attempts, consider filing a criminal complaint. You can search for police stations in your area on the Police website. 
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