A Sydney woman is awaiting sentence for manslaughter after killing her husband and dismembering his body, with a court hearing raising doubts about the sincerity of her remorse. Nirmeen Noufl, 55, pleaded guilty in August to killing husband Mamdouh in circumstances of excessive self-defence following a history of domestic abuse; she was initially charged with murder, but prosecutors accepted the lesser plea shortly before trial. The case matters because it highlights the courts' difficulty in weighing genuine contrition against self-serving behaviour in cases involving long-term abuse victims who go on to commit extreme acts of violence.

At a NSW Supreme Court sentencing hearing, the couple's daughter described her mother as increasingly "fragile and broken" in prison, while defence barrister Bill Neild SC argued psychological evidence pointed to a trauma-driven survival response and noted Noufl's repeated earlier offers to plead guilty to manslaughter. However, crown prosecutor Mark Hay said she showed "not the slightest bit of remorse until only recently". Mamdouh's body has never been found after he was killed at their Greenacre home in May 2023 and dismembered with a saw, with remains disposed of in bags across southwest Sydney; four family members gave victim impact statements noting they have no grave to visit. Justice Peter Hamill warned Mamdouh's relatives that any sentence would not close the gap left by their loss.