Said was "obsessed with possession and control" when it came to Amina and Sarah, the prosecution told the jury during the closing arguments.
A father was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing his two teenage daughters, nearly 15 years after the incident.
Yaser Abdel Said took his 18 and 17-year-old daughter for a ride in his cab on New Year's Day 2008, and hours later their bodies were found with multiple gunshot wounds, CNN reported.
The father had reportedly taken them "under the guise of taking them to get something to eat." Instead, he allegedly drove them to Irving, Texas, where he shot them inside the vehicle outside a hotel, per PEOPLE.
Said's younger daughter Sarah had made a call to officials for help that fateful day, but authorities could not locate the abandoned cab in which the girls had been left to die. "Help, my dad shot me!" she said to the 911 dispatcher. "I'm dying, I'm dying!" Unfortunately, the gunshot wounds were so severe, that Sarah and her sister died.
After years of being on the run and FBI's "Most Wanted" list, Said was given his sentence for the murders of Sarah and his elder daughter Amina, CNN reported, citing a news release from the office of Dallas County Criminal District Attorney John Creuzot.
USA: Egyptian Yaser Abdel Said faces trial after 12 years on the run, had killed his 2 daughters for dating non-Muslim boyshttps://t.co/4cIatbRxWY
— OpIndia.com (@OpIndia_com) August 5, 2022
Said had disappeared after the incident in 2008, along with his handgun and all of his savings, and was on the run for more than 12 years before being caught on August 26, 2020, in Justin, Texas.
A trial was held for six days and the Jury at a Dallas County Court delivered a verdict of guilty on August 9, 2022, after deliberating for three hours.
"There is nothing honorable about what Yaser Said did on January 1, 2008. Dallas County has shown Mr. Said that there is no excuse for taking another human life. He must now spend the rest of his days confined to a prison cell living under the control of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice," District Attorney Creuzot said.
During the closing arguments, the prosecution told the jury that when it came to Amina and Sarah, Said was "obsessed with possession and control." They said the two sisters had become "very scared for their lives" and decided to leave after he had "put a gun to Amina's head and threatened to kill her."
Official Press Release regarding Conviction and Life Sentence of Yaser Abdel Said.
— Dallas County DA (@Dallas_DA) August 9, 2022
Thank you to the prosecution team, the investigators, the jury, and all of those who fought to see that justice was done for Sarah and Amina. pic.twitter.com/mdLUzVLx3z
When Said took the stand, he said that when he left the restaurant he had taken his daughters to eat at, he realized he was being followed. He soon exited the car and told the daughters to go somewhere safe since whoever was following them was behind him and not his daughters. He added that the real killer is still on the loose because he was zeroed in as the real suspect.
Said plans on appealing the decision, his public defender, Bradley Lollar.
"We are disappointed in the verdict, but accept it. We are planning on appealing. This was a case where there were no witnesses, no physical evidence of any kind, no surveillance videos, or confession."
"To the contrary, our client always maintained innocence of the crime," Lollar added.
After the verdict was read, Said's ex-wife and the victims' mother, Patricia Owens, delivered a victim impact statement.
"You deserve a lot more than what the judge gave to you," Owens said. "You deserve to die. At this time, you are nothing. You are a prisoner and a murderer and the devil."
References:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/10/us/yaser-abdel-said-sentenced/index.html
https://people.com/crime/texas-father-convicted-murdering-teen-daughters/
Cover Image Source: YouTube | FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth
