– I can’t believe she’s not here anymore. My heart feels completely broken, says Talal Khaled Hajjar. He is the father of the 42-year-old woman who was found murdered together with her daughter (8) in Kristiansand on a Wednesday morning at the end of September. Alwan Ahmed Alwneh is charged with the double murder. He is the father of the 8-year-old and the ex-husband of the 42-year-old. The double murder in Kristiansand triggered a massive police operation. A mother and an eight-year-old daughter were found murdered in an apartment in Vågsbygd at the end of September. The police charged and wanted the father of the 8-year-old, Alwan Ahmed Alawneh (46), internationally shortly after the double murder. They stated that there was a real possibility that he had left the country. The accused 46-year-old was found dead in the sea outside Kristiansand a few days after the double murder. The cause of death is still not known. The final autopsy report is expected in 3-5 months. The police are still investigating the case broadly and are investigating whether there may have been other perpetrators involved in the murders. news meets Talal, his son Tarek Khaled and several other relatives at home in his father’s house in Tripoli in Lebanon. It’s been a few weeks since their lives were turned upside down, and the family is deeply affected as they sit around the table. The father, little brother and the other relatives are breathing heavily. They cannot understand that they have lost Iman (42) and Maryam (8) in a land far, far away. – I couldn’t believe that she was dead until I saw the video from the funeral with my own eyes, says Iman’s little brother Tarek. Playing with the cousins This summer, Iman and Maryam also sat around the same table. They were visiting Lebanon for two months. Then they lived with the brother since the father has little space. Iman’s mother died several years ago. The good memories are many. – We spent the whole day together, until the sun went down. Because my sister didn’t like to sleep. The brother says that they traveled a lot and visited family nearby. They also attended the wedding of a cousin. The 8-year-old played a lot with her cousins while she was visiting. Tarek (front) with his sister Iman and Maryam. At the back stands another brother of the two. Photo: Tarek Khaled Hajjar Tarek says that his 8-year-old niece would most like to be outside and discover new things. She told her uncle that she “hadn’t come to visit to sit inside the house”. – I therefore tried to take her and her mother out to see lots of different places. According to the family, Iman moved to Norway 16 years ago and has been little in her home country since. “Hope you come to paradise” More than 300 miles away from Tripoli in Vågsbygd in Kristiansand, there are lots of flowers, candles and teddy bears on a stone wall. Directly opposite is the house where Iman and Maryam were found murdered. The 8-year-old went to Slettheia school in Kristiansand, and friends have left nice greetings. Many have left flowers, candles, teddy bears and personal letters below the house where the two were found dead. “.. hope you go to paradise with God and all the angels” reads one of the letters from a friend. The ex-husband was visiting When Maryam was on holiday in Tripoli, she made many new friends. When it was time to go home, the niece just wanted to stay, according to the uncle. – She didn’t want to leave us because she loved playing with my children. They were so happy together, he says. Iman’s ex-husband, who is charged with the murder, was also visiting for a couple of weeks. The family says they organized it as a kind of surprise visit. – I didn’t feel that she was so happy when she saw him, but I didn’t know anything then about how things were between them, says the father. Tarek Khaled Hajjar is the younger brother of Iman. – Me and my sister were so close. May her soul rest in peace, he says. Photo: Imad Abou Jaoudeh Helped with the divorce In working on this case, news has spoken to several sources who have said that Iman wanted out of the marriage. The family in Tripoli was also aware of this. The brother says that he talked a lot with his sister about her marriage. – My sister said that Alwan became a very bad person when he got angry. Afterwards, he always came to apologise, says Tarek. Her brother helped her settle the divorce. Then the ex-husband should have called to ask his brother to get Iman to come back. – I told him that she did not want to be married to him anymore and that we in the family supported her in that. According to the family, the couple divorced approximately two months before the double murder. Bought gifts for everyone It was the brother who got a call from a family member that his sister and niece had been found dead. He was sleeping when he was called. – I was completely paralyzed when I got the message, says Tarek. Together with his brother, he went straight to his father to give him the terrible news. Talal says that he did not believe what he heard. He could not understand that his daughter and grandson had been killed. – I just asked “How?” We also both started shaking and crying. In retrospect, the father and brother think that Iman and her daughter were kind of saying goodbye to them all when they visited. – She got to meet everyone and everyone got a present. She bought shoes for her brothers and clothes for me, says her father Talal. Talal says that he finds it difficult to be so far away when his daughter and grandson were killed. Photo: Imad Abou Jaoudeh More perpetrators? No one in the family made it to the funeral in Norway. They have only seen pictures and video. news has previously told that the father felt he received little information from the police. He is said to have contacted both the UN and the Norwegian embassy in Lebanon without getting any answers about what has happened, he said. The police are still investigating whether there may be more or other perpetrators involved in the murders. – We are still there to keep all possibilities open, says police inspector Cecilie Pedersen in the Agder police district. – Does that mean that you have seen other people on video surveillance? – I cannot go into details about that, but when I say other perpetrators it means that others may have been involved in the murders in various ways, she says. Several hundred people turned up for the funeral of mother and daughter in Kristiansand on 5 October. Photo: VIKTORIA MARIE NORDAHL / news Only memories remain In Tripoli, a whole family is left in mourning. – I can’t believe that she’s gone when I wake up in the morning. I love my daughter, says the father. He talks about how nice it was to spend the summer with his eldest child and grandchild. – I used to tell the little one that she should come and sit next to me. She was so quiet and calm, just like her mother. Peace be with their memory.
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Lost her daughter and granddaughter in the double murder in Kristiansand – Sørlandet
