Crime
Toddler sees Kennewick mom stabbed 20 times. Husband faces attempted murder
A Kennewick man is locked up on $1 million bail for stabbing his wife more than 20 times with their toddler nearby.
Abdul Rahman Sweidan, 46, was charged Tuesday with attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault.
Both charges include an aggravated domestic violence allegation for the attack happening near the 3-year-old boy.
Sweidan is scheduled to appear Wednesday in Benton County Superior Court.
A man called emergency dispatchers the afternoon of Aug. 30 to say his neighbor was pleading for help, claiming that her husband was attacking her.
Police responded to Central Park Apartments on South Olympia Street and found a severely injured Dania Z. Alhafeth.
Officers noticed that a bedroom door inside the apartment was locked, and could hear a child trying to get out, court documents said. Once inside, police discovered the child had a spot of blood on his shirt, documents said.
Alhafeth, 40, was taken to Trios Southridge Hospital, where she was in critical condition for a few days.
Medical staff found more than 20 deep gashes on the front and back of her torso and on her face, along with cuts to numerous internal organs, documents said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, she was listed in good condition, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
A few minutes before dispatchers answered the neighbor’s 911 call, Sweidan showed up in the Kennewick emergency room with cuts to his hands.
Sweidan, who spoke Arabic to emergency room personnel, was identified a short time later as Alhafeth’s husband.
He gave staff two stories about his wounds: first saying he hurt himself on a machine at work; then later that he had been cutting meat when he was injured, court documents said.
Officers met up with Sweidan at the hospital and noted that he “seemed calm and did not ask about his wife,” documents said.
He claimed his wife had previously threatened him.
People who know Sweidan and Alhafeth said they had not seen the couple argue openly, “but that Sweidan had repeatedly questioned his wife about her whereabouts in the days leading up to the assault,” documents said.
It has not been determined what Alhafeth was cut with.
Kristin M. Kraemer: 509-582-1531, @KristinMKraemer
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