Lacey’s parents are charged with possible attempted honor killing

LACEY, Washington. – A Lacey father and mother are facing attempted murder, attempted kidnapping and assault charges after they were accused of trying to kill their teenage daughter in what the victim described as a possible honor killing.

Prosecutors say the Timberline High School student was attacked outside of school by her parents after she tried to escape the family.

Her boyfriend jumped in to help during the attack, and police said he was also attacked and sustained injuries. His father, Victor Barnes, says the attack occurred near a school bus stop as the girl tried to drive to a shelter for safety reasons.

A disturbing video taken by a witness on a cellphone shows the father choking her under a tree as other students tried to intervene to save her. Lacey police say they have the cell phone video and are investigating.

“There’s dad. There’s the daughter under dad,” Barnes said, pointing to the video that has since been shared with police.

Barnes says the video shows Ihsan Ali choking his teenage daughter from behind, her face pressed into the dirt.

“This is my son fighting for the girl’s life,” he said, pointing to a part of the video in which his son tugged at Ishan to pry him away from his daughter.

Court documents show that prior to the incident, she reported abuse from both Ishan, her father, and her mother, Zahraa Subhi Mohsin Ali.

She also told investigators that her parents planned to forcibly send her to Iraq to marry an older man and threatened to kill her.

“She was due to be flown out of the country earlier in the day. She ran to school. She was scared,” Barnes said.

Barnes said the girl’s parents looked for her after she ran away to get help. When the father saw her on Oct. 18, he rushed out of a vehicle and yelled at his daughter in what Barnes described as Arabic. He says another student who understood their language told the father to leave.

“The child said something like, ‘She doesn’t want to go back with you. Leave her alone.’ “Dad snapped,” Barnes said.

Investigators reported in court documents that a witness said, “Ihsan started hitting his daughter and then he hit (Barnes’ son)” … “who flew onto the concrete.”

Witnesses then told Lacey police, “Ihsan began choking his daughter for approximately a minute while several people attempted to pry Ihsan away from her.”

“Your arms go limp. She’s not moving anymore,” Barnes said, recounting his son’s memories of the attack. “He starts to see her eyes rolling back and her arms starting to wave, and that’s when he springs into action. Because he didn’t want someone he cared about to die.”

Documents show she was “pulled out of the headlock” after her father loosened his grip.

Her mother Zahraa was then accused of attacking her in a similar way to her husband.

“My son was able to grab her and take her away from her mother,” Barnes said.

He says his son and his girlfriend then ran to Timberline High School for help, which then went into lockdown.

“The mother rushed to the school but was stopped by security,” Barnes said.

An adult passerby jumped in to restrain her father until police arrived on the scene and arrested him.

Barnes says an adult should have accompanied the girl to the bus and not his son. He says school staff knew about her situation and also knew she was on her way to an emergency shelter.

“I’m glad he was there to save her life, but I need more explanation as to why the adults were so careless,” he said.

Barnes says his son and the girl did not deserve the trauma inflicted on them by adults.

“High school is a time for me that I will never forget. “It was probably some of the four funnest years of my life, and it’s unfortunate that he had to go through something like that in high school,” Barnes said.

He says he also had to take out a restraining order against the parents, not only because they attacked his son and his girlfriend, but also because the girl’s mother kept showing up at his family home before the attacks and after the girl searched.

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