Tuesday 9 August 2022 12:58 AM Egyptian man accused of shooting daughters in honor killing claims he was ... trends now
An Egyptian man on trial for the murders of his daughters in what prosecutors call an 'honor killing' took the stand in his own defense Monday and claimed that he left the girls alive in his taxi and fled because he thought he was being followed and 'felt his life was in danger.'
Yaser Said, 64, a taxi cab driver in Texas, is accused of fatally shooting 17-year-old Sarah and 18-year-old Amina on New Years Day in 2008. Their bodies were found in the back of his taxi outside a Dallas-area hotel.
Said denies that he killed his daughters and told the court on Monday that the girls were 'certainly' alive when he left them in the taxi that evening and fled after he apparently became fearful that he was being followed.
The cab driver explained that he and his daughters were on their way to dinner when he attempted to escape whoever he believed was following them by leaving the girls in his taxi and taking the bus in a different direction.
Yaser Said, 64, took the stand in his own defense on Monday, where he testified that he left the girls alive in his taxi and then fled because he said he 'felt his life was in danger'
The Texas father is accused of fatally shooting 17-year-old Sarah (left) and 18-year-old Amina (right) on New Years Day in 2008 after he discovered the girls were dating non-Muslim men and thought they were becoming 'too American'
Said recalls finding out about his daughters' murders a short time later, but for 12 years, he evaded authorities and ended up on the FBI's Most Wanted List before he was found in 2020 in Justin, Texas, where he had been hiding allegedly with the help of his son and brother.
Prosecutors allege that Said conducted the honor killing - a practice where individuals are murdered for bringing perceived shame on their family - after he discovered the girls were dating non-Muslim men and thought they were becoming 'too American.'
Said has pleaded not guilty in his daughter's murders and on Monday, he took the stand in his own defense where he again denied killing them and instead testified that he believed his own life was in danger that night.
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Said spoke in his native Arabic through a translator on the stand Monday as he explained his version of events on the night of New Year's Day in 2008.
Said's daughters reportedly decided to leave home before graduating high school, so their father planned to take them out to dinner to 'solve the problem,' the court heard.
But Said told the court that as he and his daughters were driving in his taxi cab on the way to the restaurant, he 'felt like someone was following me.' He added that one or more cars were following the cab.
Said recalled telling his daughters that he believed one of more cars were following them and that he would leave them in the taxi at an Irving transit center and he would flee separately because he believed he was being targeted.
'I told them the car is yours, you do whatever you want since they knew how to drive, I left the car for them,' Said testified, through his translator. He added that there were cameras at the transit centers he believed would keep his daughters safe.
Said stressed that his daughters were 'certainly' alive when he left them in the taxi, and said he regrets attempting to escape his alleged followers.
'This was a very stupid decision that I made,' he said, as he then explained how he discovered his daughters had been murdered when he walked into a Waffle house and learned that 'something had happened to somebody.
Said admitted to knowing he was wanted by the FBI, but told the court he did not turn himself in because he did not believe h would get a fair trial because of the coverage of his case.
'I don't think in the history of America there was a case that had the coverage that my case had,' he said.
Said's daughters had decided to leave home before graduating high school, so their father planned to take them out to dinner to 'solve the problem'
Said stressed that his daughters were 'certainly' alive when he left them in the taxi, and said he regrets attempting to escape his alleged followers
On Thursday, the mother of the teens told jurors that her ex-husband was abusive and controlling during their marriage.
When prosecutors asked Patricia Owens to identify ex-husband in court on Thursday, she pointed at Said and said 'That devil there.'
During her testimony, Owens said she married Said in 1987 when she was just 15 and he was 29, giving birth to her three children within the first three years of their marriage.
In 1998, Owens filed a report with the
