Man sentenced to life in prison for murder of Romanian sex worker in Limerick
A man was handed a life sentence on Friday after he pleaded guilty to murdering a sex worker in Ireland over two years ago.
Habib Shah Shamel appeared in the dock of Belfast Crown Court from custody to be formally arraigned on two charges he faced.
When the charge of murdering Geila Ibram was put to him by the court clerk, Shamel, 28, an Afghan national formerly of Cecil Street in Limerick, replied through an interpreter: "I am guilty."
Ms Ibram, who was 27 and originally from Romania, was stabbed at her apartment in Limerick city on April 4, 2023 five times - twice to the face, once to the chest, once to the abdomen and once to the forearm, which appeared to have been a defensive injury.
Senior prosecutor David McDowell KC told the court that Shamel had arranged by text to meet Ms Ibram for sex.
"He arrived at the flat and paid her €100. She gave the money to a colleague,'' said Mr McDowell.
"Several seconds later, this colleague heard screams and it was apparent he had stabbed Ms Ibram.
"The fatal injury was to the chest which went through her lungs and entered her heart. Death was as a result of blood loss due to multiple stab wounds.
"The fact that he stabbed her within seconds of meeting Ms Ibram invites the obvious inference that he came there to kill her.''
Shamel fled the scene and went to Dublin before heading by bus to Belfast. The PSNI stopped him in a car on the Malone Road in south Belfast just before 3.30 pm on April 6, 2023.
During interviews with police, he said he had gone to the escort to "satisfy his sexual needs'' because of something he had viewed online.
When Shamel was arrested, the PSNI seized a rucksack and found a notebook which contained a handwritten letter to his mother in which he expressed a desire to "sacrifice his life to Allah''.
The court heard the bag also contained a USB stick which contained alleged terrorist-related videos of executions, dismemberment, encouragement to support Jihad and instructions on how to construct and detonate an Improvised Explosive Device (IED).
Mr McDowell said there were also videos of suicide bombers, including a father encouraging his 10-12-year-old son to blow himself up and then him doing so.
When the charge of possessing a "document or record containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, namely files within a USB'', Shamel replied: "I am not guilty.''
The court heard a trial date had been set for September 8 this year and which is expected to last two weeks.
Defence barrister Chris Sherrard said he would be seeking expert witnesses as rebuttal to two prosecution experts who have made reports on the contents of the USB stick.
Following his guilty plea to murdering Ms Ibram, Mr Justice O'Hara told the defendant: "Mr Shamel, since you have pleaded guilty to the murder of Ms Ibram in April 2023, I must now impose on you a sentence of life imprisonment.
"There will be a subsequent hearing at which I will set the number of years which you must serve before your release can be considered.
"However number of years that will be, you will serve a very long period of time in prison before consideration of your release ever comes around.''
Mr Justice O'Hara postponed the life sentence tariff hearing until after the September trial.
The senior judge added that he would review the case of possessing documents likely to be of use to terrorists in three weeks' time.
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