Despite being charged with killing his wife and assaulting his three young children, 34-year-old Bassam Raad says he’s a loving father.
He was arrested on Monday night after his young kids (aged six, four and two) were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He was then linked to a murder of a then-unidentified woman.
The battered body was found dumped two kilometres from the family’s Broadmeadows home wrapped in a quilt on June 17, and was then identified as Raad’s 27-year-old wife Zeinab Taleb.
Last night in an out-of-sessions court hearing, he was charged with murder and three counts of intentionally causing serious injury.
At the hearing, Detective Senior Constable Miranda Stubbs said forensic officers found a large amount of blood inside their home, pointing to the belief that Raad murdered Talen there.
Raad told the hearing: “My heart is breaking. I want to see my kids.”
“I am a loving father.”
He was refused bail and will front the Melbourne Magistrates Court today.
In 2008, Raad was acquitted in trial after he and 11 other men were accused of planning terror attacks in Melbourne.
