Woman told friend she had a feeling she would be killed

Suzil Oghia was being stalked by her husband Bona Lual and she had a feeling it was going to take a sinister turn.

In November 2013, her dead body was identified by Christine Liwa, the same woman she confided to about her fears.

“If Bona wants to kill me, let him come and kill me — I will leave (it) in the hands of god,” Ms Oghia said.

Details of her death have now been released by the Coroners Court of Victoria including her sinister end and the way her husband preyed on her.

Ms Oghia met Mr Lual in Sudan and when she was just 18 years old in 2000, they married and later had four children.

It started off as a love story similar to Romeo and Juliet, the couple’s parents would not recognise their marriage because Mr Lual didn’t pay a dowry — a custom in Sudan where the new husband must pay for the bride.

Ms Oghia’s family believed Mr Lual was illegally taking his new wife away from her parents.

Their relationship was thrown into turmoil again when Mr Lual was accused of belonging to a rebel tribe and according to the coroner’s report, he was held in solitary confinement and tortured for a fortnight.
 

The couple then moved to Australia for a better and safer life.

They arrived in 2005 and they had more marriage problems.

Mr Lual was abusing alcohol and they would fight about money.

The husband would also threaten to one day kill his wife.

In 2006, Ms Oghia was assaulted over a three-hour period by Mr Lual when he came home drunk one night, while she was pregnant with one of their children.

An intervention order then prevented Mr Lual from seeing his wife and he moved to Brisbane in 2007 while Ms Oghia stayed with the children in Melbourne.

Two years later Mr Lual asked his wife to join him in Queensland and she stayed for a few months before telling friends he had not changed and was still drinking and abusing her.

In 2010 Ms Oghia went back to Melbourne and moved in with her friend, Ms Liwa.

Mr Lual would still come and see the children, but only a few times a year.

Between July and August 2013, Mr Lual contacted Ms Liwa and asked her to send a message to Ms Oghia.

He wanted his wife to know he had changed and wanted to get back together and see his children.

The coroner’s report said Mr Lual moved back to Melbourne in September 2013 in an attempt to get closer to his estranged wife but Ms Oghia refused to let him move back in and Mr Lual wanted friends and members of the Sudanese community to convince Ms Oghia to change her mind.

One friend rang Ms Oghia’s father in Sudan asking how he felt about Mr Lual moving back in with his daughter.

“I don’t want Bona to go back to Suziee anymore,” the father said.

Mr Lual was told if he wanted to resume his relationship, he would have to pay the family the dowry.

The husband became obsessed with Ms Oghia’s movements and began stalking and threatening her and he believed she was seeing other men.

He told his son to write notes about what Ms Oghia was doing socially and threatened to kill any man she was seeing.

The coroner’s report said just weeks before Ms Oghia was killed, keys to her house went missing and she believed her estranged husband took them.

She was meant to change the locks, but never got around to it.

On November 4 2013 Ms Oghia was organising a Melbourne Cup party for the Sudanese community.

She went home to change for the event about 6pm, an hour after Mr Lual showed up at her home in Noble Park in Melbourne’s southeast.

Ms Oghia’s children let him in and when she arrived home, he was there.

She changed her clothes and went to the party, Mr Lual also invited himself.

He loitered around his estranged wife all night and told her friends he wanted to talk to her.

Ms Oghia left the party about 1am on November 5 and Mr Lual followed her shortly after and drove to her house.

The coroner’s report said precise details of what happened were unknown, but it is believed the couple had a fight before Ms Oghia was killed.

She was stabbed in the lounge room while the couple’s children were asleep in bed.

Mr Lual left the home and called emergency services and told them there had been a fight and the husband stabbed his wife.

“If you don’t hurry up she is going to die,” he said.

Ms Oghia was dead when police and paramedics arrived.

The Coroners Prevention Unit found that cultural factors may have contributed to Ms Oghia’s death.

“Based on the information provided by his family and friends, Mr Lual held traditional cultural beliefs about marriage and gender roles,” State Coroner Judge Sara Hinchey said.

“He believed that men should be head of the household and women should be submissive.

“Such attitudes may have contributed to, but certainly do not excuse, his perpetration of family violence against his wife.”

On November 5, 2013, Mr Lual was charged with the murder of his wife.

He pleaded not guilty but admitted to wanting to injure her.

He was convicted of murder in June last year after a jury trial and Judge Terry Forrest sentenced him to 21 years in prison with a non-parole period of 16 years and six months.

Judge Forrest said Mr Lual was “a jealous, controlling husband who could not come to terms with Ms Oghia’s rejection.”