An Israeli-Christian man is accused of stabbing his teenage daughter to death because authorities say, he didn’t approve of her relationship with a Muslim man.
Prosecutors say Sami Karra, 58, killed his daughter in their family home in the central Israeli town of Ramle, a day after she graduated from high school.
The daughter, 17-year-old Henriette Karra, was in a relationship with a Muslim man, against the urging of her parents, according to a criminal indictment filed in Israeli district court this week.
In late May, Henriette left the family home after threats and abuse from her parents, the indictment said. She stayed with her boyfriend’s mother for part of the time.
Henriette’s family tried to bring her back home – using threats against her and her boyfriend’s mother to put pressure on her to return, the indictment says.
The boyfriend’s mother, who was not identified in the indictment, called police to intervene on Karra’s behalf. But the teenage girl refused police help, and she refused to go home.
The next month, while Henriette was staying at a friend’s house, her father came to the house and began threatening her and slapping her, the indictment says. “Just like I sat in jail, I am ready to sit in jail my entire life, I don’t care,” Karra allegedly yelled at his daughter.
After a joint meeting with a social worker, Henriette returned home two days later. She celebrated her high school graduation at a party on June 12.
But the next morning, she went to the post office to mail $100 to her boyfriend. He was in jail for an unspecified charge and was scheduled to be released at the end of the week.
When she returned home, Henriette told a family member she was ready to convert to Islam.
The family member told Henriette’s father. Upon hearing the news, according to the indictment, Karra went home, picked up a knife, and stabbed his daughter three times, killing her.
Karra was arrested later that day.
