An Afghan national has been charged with the first-degree murder of his wife after he allegedly committed an honor killing in Washington state over the belief she was having an affair, local media reported, citing the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Sayed Sadat, 37, of Auburn, called police to his home on the morning of November 23, where he was said to have confessed to killing 43-year-old Geety Sadat.
The couple’s three children, aged 6, 9, and 11, were in the family home at the time of the homicide, but were said not to have witnessed their mother’s death. Officers later took the children, who were still asleep at the time of their arrival, into protective custody.
Sadat was charged with the murder three days after the initial call to police, according to charging documents seen by the Auburn Reporter (AR). It was said he strangled Geety to death over the belief she was having an affair with her niece’s husband.
The niece and her husband were reportedly the only other family Geety had in the US, and she would regularly call them for support and would see them regularly. Police later determined there was no indication she was involved in an adulterous relationship, according to the Seattle Times.
Sadat called the police 30 minutes after Geety’s strangulation and told the police he had warned his wife over the past year that he suspected she was being unfaithful. He reportedly told officers it was the norm for cheating spouses to be killed in his home country, and he had thought about ending her life multiple times, including in the 10 days leading up to her death.
Sadat arrived from Afghanistan within the last three years, according to local reports. He had no criminal history prior to the incident. Geety had married Sadat in Afghanistan in 2013 in an arranged marriage.
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Describing the conversations between his wife and his niece’s husband as inappropriate, Sadat reportedly failed to explain to officers why he believed that the pair were committing adultery but cited cultural norms.
Geety’s cause of death was asphyxiation by manual strangulation, according to the King County Medical Examiner, which ruled her death a homicide.
Sadat reportedly told officers that her homicide was an “honor killing” as she dishonored her family with her alleged affair. He also reportedly told officers that his niece’s husband should have been killed too, but was bigger than him, and he was unsure of how to source a weapon for his killing.
Sadat is currently at the King County Correctional facility on a $3 million bail.
Officials are concerned that Sadat is a high flight risk due to the severity of the charges, according to the AR. Prosecutors have demanded that, should he make bail, he be required to surrender his passport and be placed on electronic home monitoring systems.