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Said Biyad sentenced in deaths of 4 children

By Gene Kang - Whas11.com

June 9, 2011

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11)-  Said Biyad was found guilty Thursday of slitting the throats of his four children, ages 2 to 8-years-old.  Biyad was convicted of raping and beating his estranged wife with a hammer and trying to kill her in October 2006.

Biyad's wife was not in court but she said she wanted him to be locked away from society for the rest of his life for killing their children.

"He watched his wife testify. He saw the slit throats of his children and he did not shed a tear," said Christie Foster, of the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.

Biyad was sentenced to four counts of life in prison without the possibility of parole, one count for each of his murdered children.

"I've been in this seat for over 18 years and I've not seen a worse case," said Judge Jim Shake.

Prosecutors said Biyad committed the crimes in a fit of jealous rage, because he thought his wife was cheating on him.

Biyad's lawyer, Michael Lemke, pleaded for mercy for the Somali immigrant and pointed to his paranoid mental illness and low IQ level in the 70's range.

"The conclusion, the fairest and most reasonable one is that the court should not sentence Mr. Biyad to death," said Lemke.

In April, Biyad took the stand, claiming others murdered his family and impersonated him in a videotaped confession to police.

"I think they made it up. That wasn't my voice," Biyad said through a translator.

Biyad was also sentenced for attempted murder, rape, assault and tampering with evidence.

"The 911 call was played and the screams heard.  It tore everyone in the courtroom apart. It is her wish that he never see the light of day and frankly judge I agree wholeheartedly," said Foster.

Lemke said there is a possibility he will file for an appeal in this case.

Man found guilty on all counts in the murder of his 4 children, attempted murder of wife

Whas11.com

April 22, 2011

Louisville, Ky. (WHAS11) – A guilty verdict in Said Biyad trial, he's the man accused of killing his four children and raping and attempting to kill his ex-wife.

A judge took only a few minutes to find Biyad guilty on all counts.

He was spared the death penalty but will likely spend a long time behind bars.

Judge James Shake said he believed anger and jealousy led Said Biyad to kill his four children, then rape and attempt to kill his estranged wife.

The case bounced through the justice system for nearly half a decade, as the language barrier and claims of mental illness led to delays.

Hours before the verdict, Biyad took the stand to claim others murdered his family and someone even impersonated him in a videotaped confession played Thursday in court.

Prosecutors say the ruling meant they could finally put the case behind them.

Biyad will be sentenced by Judge Shake on June 9. He faces 20 years to life without parole.

Man accused of killing his 4 children takes stand in his own defense

Whas11.com

April 22, 2011

Louisville, Ky. (WHAS11) - Friday was day four of the trial for the man accused of trying to kill his wife and then murdering their four children.
 

Said Biyad took the stand in his own defense Friday.

The defense attorneys in this case have maintained since the beginning that their client was seriously mentally ill and by putting him on the stand, they may have tried to show that to the judge hearing the case.

Said Biyad started out testifying calmly about his past and his and his wife's relationship.

But when questioning started about the night of the murders of his children and the rape and attempted murder of his wife, his testimony took strange twists and turns.

You might recall, that Biyad initially reportedly he went to the Louisville Metro Police station and confessed to police during a nearly six hour videotaped interrogation played in court Thursday.

But Friday morning, Biyad testified that three men showed up at his wife's apartment, slipped drugs into a drink they gave him, then forced him into a van.

He said they told him to go to a bank and withdraw money.

Biyad testified that he was a millionaire who owned an electric company in Africa and had vast amounts of gold that others wanted to steal, including tribal elders in Louisville and FBI agents who he says also showed up at the apartment.

Biyad says he believes those agents or the elders murdered the children and attempted to kill his wife.

Biyad also testified that his alleged videotaped confession played in court Thursday was a fake.

“That wasn't my voice. Yesterday, I was surprised when I saw English. I think they put somebody else in there. The guy was talking on behalf of me. He knew a lot of English. So I'm surprised. I think they made it up. I think they made it up,” he said.

Prosecutors, during their cross-examination of Biyad, tried to portray him as a jealous husband who was angry because his wife left him and became pregnant by another man.

Psychologist: Accused killer may be schizophrenic

Refugee Accused Of Killing Family Appears In Court

TheLouisvilleChannel.com

March 6, 2007

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A Somali refugee accused of killing his family appeared in court Tuesday. Police said Said Biyad slashed his four children's throats after beating and raping his wife because she disrespected him.

Biyad has been charged with murder, attempted murder and first-degree rape charges. Already, challenges exist for arranging Biyad's trial, as he has refused to cooperate with doctors trying to evaluate him. Doctors and experts said he?s paranoid and refuses to discuss the case.

And defense attorneys say they are concerned about a language barrier, saying there have already been problems with transcripts of statements Biyad made after his arrest.

Before relocating to Metro Louisville, Biyad and his family lived in Portland, Oregon where according to police reports he was involved in a domestic dispute with his wife.

Somali Immigrant Charged With Killing Children In Louisville

Oct 25, 2006

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A Somali immigrant has been charged today with killing his four young children and attacking his wife at their Louisville apartment.

Police say 42-year-old Said Biyad had an argument with his estranged wife about the children.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Phil Turner says Biyad struck the woman, 29-year-old Fatuma Amir, with a blunt instrument before turning on the children, three girls and a boy.

Turner says Biyad was charged with four counts of murder and one count of criminal assault. Biyad went to police headquarters around nine o'clock this morning and told police he had killed his family.

Police officers sent to the apartment at the Iroquois Homes complex found the children's bodies.

Turner says the three girls were ages eight, seven and four, and the boy was about to turn three. Amir suffered non-life threatening injuries and is speaking to investigators.

Somali refugee accused of killing wife with mallet, slashing children to death

Oct. 16, 2006

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Fatuma Amir and Said Biyad, members of a persecuted minority, came to the United States from Somalia to escape the violence in their homeland and make a better life for themselves and their four young children.

They initially settled in Portland, Ore., to begin learning English and looking for work.

But in Oregon, their marriage unraveled, and this summer Amir moved to Louisville with the children: Goshany, Khadija, Fatuma and Sidi Ali — ranging in age from 2 to 8.

Biyad found them, and police say that on Oct. 6 he attacked his wife with a mallet, then stabbed and slashed his children to death. Amir remains hospitalized; her family won't release details.

"It was so sad and sorry, what happened," said Abanur Saidi, an immigration case worker with Catholic Charities in Louisville, which helps refugees learn English, find homes and get jobs.

Amir and Biyad are Bantus, a persecuted minority composed of more than 400 different ethnic groups united by a common language and some customs in Somalia. Most were farmers.

Many Bantus fled Somalia, torn by civil war and violence since 1991. About 12,500 came to the United States, spread out in 50 cities in 38 states, with 600 to 700 living in Louisville.

Biyad and Amir arrived in Oregon in 2004. Omar Eno, director of the National Somali Bantu Project in Portland, said the couple sought help from his agency to learn English and find work.

Both picked up the language and tried to fit it with the Somali community, but there were problems, friends said.

Basko Kante, who worked with Biyad on the board of the African Community Coalition in Portland, said Biyad sometimes talked about problems in his marriage but didn't give a lot of details. Kante said the difference in their ages -- Biyad is 42 and Amir is 29 -- may have played a role.

"He kept saying people were interfering with his marriage ... his countrymen, statesmen," Kante said. "Otherwise, there was no hint of violent behavior."

Police were called to the couple's home in March 2005, for a domestic violence call, according to a police report. It turned out to be only a verbal dispute, according to the report, but afterward Amir drank bleach and was taken to a hospital. No charges were filed.

Eno and Dan Van Lehman, deputy director of the National Somali Bantu Project, said they had heard about possible domestic problems at the couple's home but did not know the details or the scope.

"There's a fair amount of marriage and divorce in the community," Van Lehman said.

This past summer, Amir and the children moved out. A friend of the family, Hassan Muya, said Portland had become unlivable for her because of the marital problems.

According to Van Lehman, Amir said little about where she was going.

"I didn't know where she was leaving to," Van Lehman said.

The move to Louisville brought Amir near her brother, Osman Noor, Saidi said.

Biyad, meanwhile, told friends that his wife had "bolted," Kante said.

"He didn't know where she was, where the lady was with the children," Kante said.

It wasn't until late summer that Biyad found his wife, Kante said. He said he didn't know how Biyad found Amir, but recalled him saying his wife wanted to reunite in Kentucky.

Biyad had been in Louisville only a couple of weeks when Amir and the children were attacked.

Afterward, police said, Biyad walked into police headquarters and said: "I just killed my family." He told investigators his wife was disrespectful of him, police Lt. Steve Green said.

Prosecutors have not yet decided whether they will seek the death penalty in the four murder charges against Biyad.

Eno said he's afraid people might draw the wrong conclusion about the Bantus from what happened between Biyad and his family.

"It's an individual thing," Eno said. "It doesn't derive from the community. It's personal."

'I just killed my family'

Somali refugee held in his 4 kids' deaths

By Jessie Halladay and Peter Smith - The Courier-Journal

One by one, workers carried out the small, draped bodies of four Somali refugee children who police say were murdered by their father yesterday morning in their Iroquois Homes apartment.

Their deaths were apparently the result of an argument between their estranged parents that ended with 42-year-old Said Biyad striking his wife in the head and then killing his children, police said.

Police discovered the bodies of the four siblings, ranging in age from 2 to 8 years old, after Biyad walked into Louisville Metro Police headquarters downtown around 9 a.m. and calmly told detectives: "I just killed my family," said Lt. Col. Phillip Turner, an assistant police chief.

Officers also found the children's wounded mother, Fatuma Amir, who was taken to University Hospital. She was listed in serious condition yesterday.

Neither police nor the coroner would detail how the children were killed.

"This is an extremely tragic situation," Turner said.

Biyad was being held without bond at Metro Corrections last night. He will be arraigned at 9 a.m. today, according to the jail records department.

According to the jail records, he is charged with four counts of murder-domestic violence; attempted murder-domestic violence; first degree rape-domestic violence; first degree assault-domestic violence; and tampering with physical evidence.

Police believe the incident, at 1427 Bicknell Ave., stemmed from an argument between Amir and Biyad over the children. Turner said the couple had been estranged, but it was unclear if Biyad had been living with the family.

Police did not release the names of the 8-year-old boy and three girls -- ages 2, 4 and 7 -- who were killed, the youngest just short of her third birthday.

But Carol Young, director of Kentucky Refugee Ministries, which worked with Amir and the children, said the children's names were Sidi, the oldest, Fatuma, Khadija and Goshany, the youngest.

The three oldest children were Jefferson County Public Schools students, said spokeswoman Lauren Roberts, but she did not provide information about which schools they attended.

The family members were ethnic Bantus from Somalia who went to Portland, Ore., as refugees in 2004. Amir and the children moved to Louisville this spring, Young said.

Portland police records show that Biyad and Amir were involved in a domestic disturbance on March 24, 2005, that resulted in no charges filed, Officer Cathy Kent, a spokeswoman, said.

Concern for traditions

Yesterday, dozens of people, including Somali refugees and residents, watched as police officers, evidence technicians and coroners pored over the scene.

For hours, women dressed in traditional Bantu clothing sat on the sidewalk just yards from the scene, rocking their children and talking in muted tones. Men stood nearby, periodically meeting as some translated between police and the Somalis who were there.

"This is something that never happens," said Hassan Muya, president of the Bantu Community Association. "We never see somebody kill his family."

One of the concerns was burial for the children. Muslim tradition calls for the dead to be buried within 24 hours. But the autopsies, which were to be performed this morning, made it unclear whether that would be possible.

"The way they want to do is not what we want to do," Muya said. "It's difficult."

Omar Ayyash, director of the metro international affairs office, said he was trying to coordinate with the law enforcement officials to help speed the process to meet the religious needs of the family.

"We are very sensitive to the culture," Ayyash said.

Among those hoping for answers yesterday was Amir's brother, Osman Noor.

Noor said he got a call yesterday morning from his aunt, whom Amir had called and told about the attack. Noor, who lives in the Park Hill public housing complex, went quickly to the scene.

By the time he arrived, his sister had already been taken to the hospital and he was told by police that the children were dead.

"They was wonderful children," Noor said. "I'll miss them."

Noor said Biyad was a "nice man, but I don't know what happened."

Mother had found job

Young said Amir and her children moved to Louisville without her husband. The agency did not know when he arrived in Louisville.

Young said Amir never gave any indication that there was a threat of domestic violence.

The ministry had just helped Amir arrange for child care and a job at an assembly plant, Young said.

"From what I understand, she was happy and doing well in her job," Young said, adding that she was an eager participant in the ministry's English classes.

"Everybody's just reeling," at the ministry, she said.

Hundreds of Bantu refugees live in Louisville; many have been helped by Kentucky Refugee Ministries and Catholic Charities.

Young said the Bantus have made great strides in their short time here in Louisville and that they are shocked by the murder.

"The Bantu community is a very gentle community," she said, with members who are "extremely supportive of each other."

Mourners gather

As news spread of the killings, more Somali refugees converged on the scene. Volunteers came to help translate for police.

By evening, On Fire Christian Center had set up a prayer vigil outside the scene to allow residents a chance to mourn.

Early on, Mayor Jerry Abramson came to the scene to help coordinate city services to help the family.

He described the killings as "just an incredible tragedy. As a parent, it's beyond unthinkable."

The Rev. Sandra White, with No Murders Metro -- a group that formed in response to killings in the Louisville area -- came to the scene to offer her support and comfort to the family and residents.

"It's all senseless," she said. "You can't understand."

Conedia Compton spent much of the day watching the scene unfold from her porch across Bicknell Avenue.

"It hurts me more because babies were involved," Compton said. "You open your doors and you never know what you're going to walk into."

Coroner Says Children Died From 'Sharp Force Injuries

By James Zambroski - Wave3.com

Oct 10, 2006

LOUISVILLE -- New information from the coroner's office shows the four victims in last Friday's murder rampage in the city's south end did not die quickly. Dr. Ronald Holmes confirmed the children were slashed to death and that he needed two deputy coroners to process the crime scene.

A preliminary report from the coroner's officer says the children most likely bled to death from "multiple sharp force trauma."

Jefferson County Coroner Dr. Ronald Holmes says sharp force trauma "can mean several things. One thing it could mean would be stabbing, obviously. Another thing would be slashing of a particular area of the body."

Holmes told us he thinks "two of the four children were sleeping at the time of the attack," and that the crime scene was spread throughout the apartment. The victims were "in two separate rooms," Holmes said.

"One of them was in a bedroom. And that's about all I want to say on that."

Police said Said Biyad, the children's father, struck the children's mother, Fatimuha Amir, with a blunt object before killing the children. Both weapons have been recovered.

"There was a sharp instrument found close to the scene," Holmes said. "And there was a blunt instrument found in a yard next door."

Police report that Biyad and his wife were estranged. Such separation -- American style -- is not common in Somali culture, said Dr. Raphael Njoku. "In most places, it is not common. When a wife separates from her husband for good reason, most of the time, the woman goes back to her family."

Police say Biyad and Amir argued about their children shortly before they were murdered, and that loss of cultural dominance may have pushed Biyad over the edge.

Holmes said he sent two female deputies to Friday's crime scene out of necessity. "The scene was horrific, I think that was number one. The second was the number of victims: four victims at one time -- actually, five with the mother."

At least two of the children were already covered with white sheets when police arrived. The two girls -- ages 7 and 4 -- had defensive wounds on their hands and arms.

Said Biyad remains in jail, charged with four counts of murder, and is due for a bail hearing on October 17th.