Man gets life for murdering wife in front of their children, who tried to save her

A man was sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday for stabbing his wife to death in front of the couple’s children, one of whom was injured as he tried to protect his mother.

Alaza Mandparo was also ordered by the Tel Aviv District Court to pay NIS 258,000 ($73,328) to the family of his victim, Mastwell, for the 2020 killing.

The murder came just weeks after Alaza Mandparo was released from prison, where he served time for a previous assault on Mastwell.

Mastwell Mandparo was stabbed multiple times at the family’s Holon apartment on April 28, 2020.

She was pronounced dead at the scene by Magen David Adom paramedics. The couple’s two children, aged 6 and 14, were at home at the time of the stabbing.

According to court papers Mandparo had in recent years attacked his wife and threatened to kill her on numerous occasions.

The indictment said an argument broke out after Mastwell said she wouldn’t help him make a cup of coffee.

Alaza “took a glass bottle that was in the living room and beat [her] over the head with it.”

Afterward he went to the kitchen and got a knife with a 20-centimeter blade (around eight inches).

Mastwell fled the apartment to the stairwell, at which point her husband chased her and stabbed her in the back and neck in front of their children.

Their 14-year-old son attempted to help his mother while crying out, “Dad, stop.” The teen sustained an injury to his arm during the struggle with his father.

Alaza fled the scene and was arrested by police some hours later, after members of the public told police that they had seen him wandering the streets. He later confessed to police that he had carried out the killing.

In August 2019, Mandparo was arrested for assaulting his wife and sentenced to 10 months in prison, including time served while under arrest. Prior to the sentencing, welfare services had warned the court that he posed a danger to his wife and therefore recommended he be sent to prison.

After Mandparo’s arrest, his wife and children moved to a shelter for battered women but she left within days, of her own accord, telling authorities she felt unable to earn a living and support the children.

He was released on March 11 after serving two-thirds of his sentence, as is common in Israel. At the time of his release, his wife had told welfare services in Holon that she did not feel in danger from Mandparo, Hebrew media reports said.

Mandparo initially went to live with his sister, also in Holon, but later moved back in with his wife after the couple apparently reconciled.

Domestic violence in Israel is on the rise, according to figures released last year by the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry.

Numerous protests have been held over recent years over the way the government and authorities have been handling domestic violence, particularly in cases where the victims were already known to the authorities.

The coalition deal between Religious Zionism and Likud reportedly includes an agreement that Israel will not sign onto the Istanbul Convention, an international treaty intended to battle violence against women, with the far-right party claiming concerns over immigration implications.