Son 'tried to prevent fatal attack'

A father-of-four described as paranoid and suspicious stabbed his wife to death as two of their children desperately tried to fight him off, a Supreme Court trial has been told.

Messaoud Chiha, 52, is accused of murdering his wife Souad Benhammadi, 45, at their Canning Vale home in 2013, during what prosecutors described as a frenzied attack.

He is also accused of unlawfully wounding his teenaged son Youcef by smashing a vase over the boy's head as he attempted in vain to save his mother's life.

At a judge only trial in Supreme Court which began this morning, Mr Chiha formally admitted stabbing his wife with a 30cm kitchen knife, inflicting four wounds including the fatal wound to her back.

But the devout Muslim has pleaded not guilty on the basis of insanity, claiming a deep depression at the time led him to launch the attack while in state of "insane automatism".

In pre-recorded video evidence, Mr Chiha's daughter Malak told how her parent's relationship had long been physically abusive, and had deteriorated in the week's before her mother's death.

Ms Chiha told the court three weeks before the stabbing, she had seen Mr Chiha pull a knife on her mother.

On the day of her mother's death, a disagreement between the spouses over money had angered Mr Chiha, who had also been drinking after skipping work.

Grabbing his wife by the wrist, she said her father then pulled a knife and began stabbing her in the face and in the back.

As she collapsed, Mr Chiha then turned on his son, smashing a vase over his head leaving him with several wounds.

In video evidence, Youcef tearfully told how he had tried to stop the fatal attack - which included Mr Chiha stamping on his wife's face as she lay dying near the front door, and then hurling a plank of wood at them both.

"I don't want say his name," said Youcef, who was just 16 at the time of the attack.

The trial continues.