In Liverpool, in the former apartment of John Lennon (member of The Beatles) at 36 Falkner Street, a Muslim family of four lived for some time: husband Sami Salem, his wife Arena Said and their two children, 7-year-old Shadia Salem and 4-year-old Rami Said …
On May 30, 2017, a woman and two children were found dead. The woman was strangled and the children were drowned in the bathroom. All this, according to her husband, was ordered by the voices in his head. After the murder of the family, the man doused the entire apartment with gasoline and tried to kill himself by taking a large dose of medicine. Liverpool Echo writes about the incident.
Before that, the man had seen hallucinations. He said that he saw "Tall Chimpanzee" and "dark entity."
At a recent court hearing, Sami Salem pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but vehemently denied murder motivated by insanity. Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Mohammed Rahman is confident that Salem has schizophrenia and that signs of the disease began to show themselves back in November 2016.
The defendant's defense lawyer asked the psychiatrist how exactly schizophrenic patients perceive things that do not exist in reality, such as hallucinations or voices. To this Dr. Rahman replied that all sensations are subjective and people may not distinguish between the real and the seeming and vice versa.
According to Dr. Rahman, the defendant heard voices urging him to do things that would harm people. Once it happened in a car and a voice asked Sami Salem not to put on the brakes. He said, "Don't put on the brakes, you can do it." At that time Salem managed to resist and slowed down.
On another occasion, a voice asked not to enter the house, otherwise something bad would happen.
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According to Dr. Rahman, the defendant cannot remember exactly how he killed his family, but does remember that voices asked him to do it.
When the defendant was asked about his attitude towards his wife, he said that he was in love with her and that they had arguments, but he never raised a hand against her.
According to Dr. Rahman, schizophrenia began to appear in the accused first in the form of bouts of suspicion. One day Arena Said told her friend that her husband locked her in the house.
Sami Salem has not yet been charged as the court hearings are still ongoing.
