A man killed his wife and daughter after a paternity test showed it was not his child
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A Perris man strangled his wife and bludgeoned his 6-year-old daughter to death after a paternity test showed his daughter was not his, a prosecutor told a jury Thursday, June 21.
Michael Barbar, 54, could face the death penalty if convicted of all charges that he plotted and murdered his wife, Maysam Barbar, 43, and his youngest daughter, Tamara on Nov. 14, 2009.
Barbar's 13-year old daughter, Tarah described on the witness stand how she woke to her younger sister's cries and pleas forhelp as her father was bashing her head into her bedpost.
“She was yelling 'No, stop, please,'“ Tarah said timidly on the witness stand as her father watched. “It was different. They sounded like pleading cries.”
Tarah said she heard her father banging more than 20 times, then marching up and down the stairs carrying garbage bags as she lay in bed. She woke up the next morning to her sister's bed covered in blood and her mother's room locked.
After the killing, he called his oldest step daughter, Theadora and told her there was an accident and to call police. He called her back and confessed he had killed his wife and Tamara.
Barbar rented a car and arranged to have it left at the MorongoCasino in Cabazon. He also had a revolver and directions to where he could find his wife’s lover in Texas. Prosecutors said he had exchanged cars at the Casino and was on his way to Texas when he was stopped by police in New Mexico.
Deputy District Attorney John Aki described how Barbar received paternity test results then plotted for eight days to kill his wife and daughter, then kill the man who was having an affair with his wife before planning to flee to Lebanon.
“This case is about viciousness, cruelty selfishness and control,” Aki said. “Maysam and Tamara had no idea they were going to be killed that night. He knew for eight days that Tamara was not his daughter.”
Prosecutors said Barbar had discovered his wife was having several online affairs in early 2009, including once where she went to Texas to meet one lover.
In November 2009, Barbar checked his daughter out of school at Val Verde Elementary and took her to a McDonald’s to meet a notary for a paternity test. On Nov. 6, Barbar found out Tamara was not his daughter,
On Friday, Nov. 13, 2009, Barbar and his family had a barbecue and he gave his step daughter $20 and told her not to come home that night. He told his two younger daughters to go to bed early so he could have a special evening with his wife.
Police found Maysam Barbar strangled to death with a computer cord around her neck and her hands handcuffed behind her back.
Prosecutors said Barbar also attempted to strangle Tamara as she slept, but she fought back. Barbar instead, slammed his daughter's head into the bedpost repeatedly until her skull was crushed, Aki said.
Barbar's defense attorney Eric Keen told the jury that Barbar had done “the single most regrettable thing he's done in his life.”
He asked the jury to find Barbar guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
“In an uncontrollable rage, the pain boiled over and he killed Maysam and Tamara,” Keen said. “There was no plan.”
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