Woman who fatally stabbed cousin during a fight about her Mercedes found guilty of manslaughter

A SYDNEY woman, 37, who stabbed her cousin to death following an argument about her Mercedes has been found guilty of manslaughter.

Katherine Abdallah arrives at the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney, Friday, November 24, 2017. Picture: AAP/Joel Carrett.

A SYDNEY woman who fatally stabbed her cousin after a violent and prolonged argument over her Mercedes has been found guilty of manslaughter.

Katherine Abdallah, 37, submitted she had acted in self-defence when she killed Suzie Sarkis, 21, at her Brighton-Le-Sands townhouse on February 9, 2013. However, after almost five days of deliberations, a NSW Supreme Court jury on Monday found Abdallah guilty of manslaughter, before her bail was revoked and the case put over to December 13.

Katherine Abdallah (right) arrives at the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney in November. Picture: Joel Carrett/AAP

Abdallah originally faced a murder trial but was found guilty of the less serious charge of manslaughter and jailed in May 2015 for at least eight years and three months.

Later that year she successfully challenged her conviction and was ordered to face a second trial. She was released on bail in February 2016.

The Crown contended during the 2017 retrial the stabbing wasn’t done in self-defence but was a continuation of a series of violent acts by Abdallah that day after she became angry at her cousin for using her new Mercedes.

On the night before the stabbing, Ms Sarkis took Abdallah’s new Mercedes-Benz coupe and drove it at high speed and was pulled over by police, the prosecutor said.

Police reported this to Abdallah, before Ms Sarkis again took the car out on the Saturday without her cousin’s permission.

Abdallah became “annoyed and angry” when told of this and “even more so after she found out on Saturday that she had taken it a second time”, prosecutor John Bowers said. “The crown case is that caused ongoing conflict between the two women”.

Katherine Abdallah has been found guilty of manslaughter. Picture: Joel Carrett/AAP

CCTV footage from inside the townhouse captured arguments between the pair before Abdallah armed herself with two knives and stabbed her cousin.

“The crown case is that Ms Abdallah stabbed Ms Sarkis as an act in a series of violent acts that were generated or triggered by ongoing hostility and aggression that Saturday because of the incident of the car,” prosecutor John Bowers said.