The prosecution said in a statement that it detained 22-year-old university student Islam Mohamed for four days pending investigations into charges of the premeditated murder of 20-year-old Bahgat in the lobby of a building in the city of Zagazig, the capital of Sharqiya governorate.

According to the prosecution, Mohamed committed the murder after the victim and her family rejected his offer to marry her due to his “bad behaviour, abnormal beliefs, and his addiction to drugs.”

The suspect killed the victim, who was studying mass communication at Shorouk Academy, after stalking her for some time, the prosecution said.

Witness testimonies

The prosecution said that the victim was in the building where the crime took place to visit a friend who worked at a local newspaper there.

The victim’s friend revealed to the prosecution that they had spoken a day earlier and that Bahgat was in emotional distress. They then agreed they would meet at the paper.

That night, the friend said that the suspect, Mohamed, called her to ask about Bahgat, to which the friend said that Bahgat would be visiting her at the newspaper the next day.

Mohamed then contacted the owner of the newspaper to ask if you could work as an intern there, to which the owner agreed, the prosecution said.

According to the prosecution, 11 witnesses were questioned, including five who saw the murder take place. These were the doorwoman of the building where the crime happened, her son, a grocer from a grocery next to the building, his young assistant, and one of the building residents.

The grocer and his assistant revealed to the prosecution that the accused was in the area for an hour asking about the location of the newspaper prior to the murder.

The five eyewitnesses said that they saw the accused stab the victim to death.

A shopkeeper from a house appliance store next to the building testified that the suspect bought from him the knife that he used to commit the crime.

According to the prosecution, the suspect took photos of the victim’s body after the attack.

Last June, a similar incident stirred public anger when a 21-year-old student at the Faculty of Arts Mansoura University killed his colleague Nayera Ashraf, also in broad daylight after she rejected his advances. In July, a criminal court issued a preliminary death penalty verdict against the perpetrator in the case.

Family Testimony 

The prosecution stated that it listened to the testimonies of the victim’s father and uncle who said that the accused and the victim were colleagues in the same university and the accused asked her hand in marriage, but he was rejected because her family wanted her to complete her education.

Her family added that the girl then noticed his bad behaviour, how he was addicted to drugs, and decided to end her relationship with him, which led him to stalk and threaten her to harm and kill her.

Her father revealed that on 29 June, during her last exam at the university located in Cairo, the victim was worried that the accused might meet her there and asked her father to accompany her.

On that day, Bahgat’s father said that he was surprised to see the accused and his parents in front of the university waiting for them, asking his daughter’s hand in marriage again, but he refused, and they left. 
He added that he found the accused sending him threats that he would defame his daughter if he continued to reject him and when he blocked his contact on his mobile phone, he found out that the accused sent his threats to the victim’s brother and uncle.

Bahgat’s uncle added that her family rejected the accused’s marriage proposal because he leaned towards “atheism” and had abnormal ideas, the prosecution’s statement read.

The prosecution stated that it checked that the victim’s family did not report the accused’s threats to the authorities prior to the crime.

Confessions of the accused

According to the prosecution, 22-year-old Mohamed confessed that he killed the victim and that after her family’s rejection for his marriage proposal, he continued his relationship with the victim but then they disagreed after his attempt to prevent her from work and to meet her friends to allegedly protect her.

The accused added that she ended her relationship with him after accusing him of blasphemy and atheism due to his tattoos which he claimed to have to draw her attention to him.

Mohamed told the prosecution that he threatened the victim to defame and murder her after ending her relationship with him.

He revealed that on 29 June he planned to kill her at the university with a pocket knife he had. When he failed he called his parents to come to ask her hand in marriage from her father after knowing that he was there on that day. Mohamed that her father refused his proposal until he removed his tattoos and continued his education at the university.

Since that time, Mohamed lost contact with the victim. He tried to call her brother and uncle because he was blocked by the other members of her family. He reached her friend on Monday who informed him about her upcoming meeting with the victim the next day.

Mohamed confessed that he intended to commit his crime during that time and bought a knife and waited for the victim at the building’s lobby. He attacked her, stabbing her several times. He added that the people gathered around them when she screamed and closed the gates of the building until police arrived. 

Mohamed told the prosecution that he took photos of the victim after he had stabbed her with his mobile phone and called his mother to tell her that he committed the crime, adding that he had been consuming hashish and alcohol for several months.

Meanwhile, a man standing at the gate filmed him in a clip that went viral on social media.

The prosecution added that it confiscated the accused’s mobile phone that contained several digital evidence, including the threats he sent to the family of the victim, as well as the mobile phone of the victim’s friend and the newspaper’s owner.