A Perth man found guilty of murder had been “exposed to things that no child and no adult should ever be exposed to”, his lawyers told the Supreme Court as they tried to explain what led the African migrant to bludgeon his pregnant lover to death with a hammer.
Hassan Jabbie, 53, denied he was responsible for the death of 36-year-old Janet Dweh, whose distraught family found her body in her Dayton home in October 2021. Dweh had been struck in the head 30 times.
Janet Dweh was eight months pregnant when she was murdered.
Police arrested Jabbie and charged him with her murder after an investigation revealed he was the father of Dweh’s unborn child. She was eight months pregnant with Jabbie’s baby at the time of her death – and had wanted her to have an abortion.
A jury was confronted with horrific evidence during a seven-week trial last year pointing to Jabbie’s guilt, including voice messages he sent Dweh calling her a prostitute and a harlot, and telling her to get rid of the baby.
Jabbie was married but had been separated from his wife during his relationship with Dweh.
After Jabbie’s arrest, police planted an undercover officer in his holding cell at the Perth Watch House to ask about his charges.
Jabbie told the undercover officer he had been charged with murder, and maintained it was a conspiracy against him – but added there was clothing “buried deep” that was incriminating.
Police later found that clothing, along with a claw hammer containing Jabbie’s DNA, buried on a vacant block close to his Ellenbrook home.
CCTV footage showed Jabbie going to Dweh’s house on the day she was killed before he stole the hard drive to her security cameras.
“Jabbie did not want Janet Dweh to give birth to that baby,” state prosecutor Paul Usher told the jury.
Jabbie pleaded not guilty to murder and maintained the matter was a case of mistaken identity, but a jury took just 24 hours to reach a unanimous guilty verdict.
During a sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Jabbie’s lawyer Sean Dworcan said his client still did not accept the verdict, but said the offending was “truly horrific”.
“It is an extremely serious example of murder,” he said.
However, Dworcan provided Supreme Court Justice Joseph McGrath with background information about Jabbie’s past, which he said contributed towards the “awful crime”.
He told the court Jabbie was the product of an affair and was exiled by his mother to live first with an uncle and then his biological father.
Later, he and his family fled West Africa’s Ivory Coast during a civil war, finding themselves as refugees in Sierra Leone and Papua New Guinea.
“He was exposed to things that no child and no adult should ever be exposed to,” Dworcan said.
“Some of what he was made to endure included watching his youngest brother being shot dead in front of him, and that was not the only murder he was witness to.
“He watched another refugee get shot dead by rebels. So his formative years were truly appalling.
“He was subjected to a very violent imagery, and actual murder as a refugee seeking refuge himself.”
Dworcan’s legal team told McGrath that Jabbie was suffering from a psychosis at the time of the murder, and suffered delusional beliefs and hallucinations in the days prior.
However, Usher questioned whether there was a “causal nexus” between Jabbie’s mental health and the murder.
Usher said Jabbie’s actions showed he had an intention to kill Dweh, and that he had a history of domestic violence.
Jabbie will be sentenced on February 25.
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