An Egyptian immigrant who had “unexplained wealth” despite being on welfare for 20 years has been charged with murdering and dismembering her husband in Sydney.
Nirmeen Noufl, 53, was arrested at a hospital in Bankstown on Thursday and on Friday was charged with the domestic violence murder of her husband Mamdouh Noufl, 62, who was reported missing in May 2023. Homicide detectives then executed a crime scene warrant at a home in Greenacre.
Police will allege Noufl was motivated by financial gain and acted alone in killing her husband in their family home on Juno Parade before cutting up his corpse with knives and power tools and disposing of the body parts in bins across south-west Sydney.
Noufl had received housing and government assistance for the last two decades and ran NDIS and child-minding businesses, but had accumulated “a lot of unexplained wealth” after his husband’s disappearance and had bought multiple investment properties in the Middle East, police said on Saturday.
Police said they became suspicious of Noufl after she told conflicting stories about her husband’s whereabouts, and will further allege that Noufl impersonated him on social media and was in possession of his phone.
Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said: “The [alleged] murder is brutal, but it’s also macabre and bizarre. The way, the manner, the nature and the disposal of the body. We will allege that she is a person who manipulates people and manipulates the truth.
“We are alleging from the facts that [she] had taken over his phone and social media accounts purporting that he could still be alive, and that delayed some of the investigations and also was probably a ruse to disguise the fact that he was actually dead.
“We will allege, also that [she] butchered and dismembered his body, placed his body parts in plastic bags and then disposed of his remains in various rubbish bins in the residential areas and industrial areas.
“There was significant cleaning of the house and a reflooring of the house as well. We will allege in court she was solely responsible for his murder and dismemberment.”
Det Supt Doherty also said Noufl had travelled to Egypt to sell properties and was in the process of buying shares in the United Arab Emirates.
Noufl was refused bail and will appear before Burwood Local Court on December 11.
According to the 2021 Census, just 13.4% of Greenacre residents are of Australian ancestry, 46.8% are Muslim, and 78% speak a language other than English at home.
Header image: Mamdouh Noufl, left. Police executing a search warrant in Greenacre, right (NSW Police)
