A FAMILY AFFAIR: Woman accused of killing nephew had tryst with him Article content A 37-year-old woman accused of killing her 25-year-old nephew revealed she had an affair with him, according to court testimony. During her murder trial Tuesday for the 2016 killing of Mohammed Abdelaziz, Andira Abdelaziz told court she stabbed her nephew as an act of self-defence because he allegedly threatened to kill her. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or A FAMILY AFFAIR: Woman accused of killing nephew had tryst with him Back to video According to the San Antonio Express-News, the 6-foot-5, 213-pound nephew — a blood relative of the accused’s husband — was physically and verbally abusive to her during their secret relationship. According to police transcripts of texts between the two, Mohammed reportedly called Andira a “daughter of a whore,” stating he would come visit her at her San Antonio home and killer her. “Your life is over. Your kids are over. You’re dead,” stated one of Mohammed’s texts to his aunt. Andira told court her nephew banged on the windows of her home on Aug. 9, 2016 and began beating her. KSAT reported cops had responded to a burglary call at the home, but the woman insisted there wasn’t an issue.<doc-sep>Texas Aunt Admits Affair with Nephew She Fatally Stabbed — But Claims He Abused Her A Texas woman accused of fatally stabbing the nephew with whom she was having an affair said she repeatedly faced threats of violence from him, as her defense lawyer contends she killed him in self-defense. “I would get close to him and I would cover my head,” Andira Abdelaziz said Tuesday on the witness stand in her murder trial, according to news station KSAT. “And then he would tell me to put my hands down to my side. And he would tell me that if I covered my face, then it’s going to be a closed fist.” Get push notifications with news, features and more. Abdelaziz, 37, is accused of killing 25-year-old Mohammed Abdelaziz, her 6-foot, 5-inch tall nephew who weighed 213 pounds when he bled to death on Aug. 9, 2016, in the driveway of her home. The aunt admitted she stabbed him once with a kitchen knife, but told jurors in a San Antonio courtroom that their final confrontation was preceded by physical and mental abuse inflicted by the younger man during their secret three-year affair. Andira AbdelazizCredit: Bexar County Sheriff's Office Andira Abdelaziz | Credit: Bexar County Sheriff's Office • Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. He sometimes beat her in public and threatened her life during hours of texting, Andira Abdelaziz testified, the San Antonio Express-News reports. The disparagements included him repeatedly calling her the “daughter of a whore,” according to police transcripts of their text conversations, the newspaper reports. If she wasn’t sleeping on the couch at night when Mohammed Abdelaziz looked in through the window, suggesting that she might actually be sleeping beside her husband, Mohammed told her, “Your life is over. Your kids are over. You’re dead.” Mohammed Abdelaziz was a law school student who, on the day he died, stood outside the home repeatedly ringing the doorbell and pounding on the front windows as her children looked on, Andira Abdelaziz and her teenage son testified. Andira Abdelaziz tried to calm him down, and said that the revelation of their affair to her Palestinian-American family would harm her kids or make her the target of an “honor killing” by other relatives, she said. But after he allegedly hit her with balled fists in the face, stomach and back, police were called, she testified. Andira Abdelaziz declined to press charges and told police that she mistakenly thought he was an intruder. It was the scandal that rocked America’s most storied political family and changed the course of presidential history. PEOPLE‘s first-ever podcast, Cover-Up, dives into the Chappaquiddick scandal and attempts to piece together what happened in the hours after Ted Kennedy’s car went over a narrow wooden bridge, killing his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or wherever podcasts are available. After police left, Andira stabbed her nephew in what her defense attorney, Mike McCrum has characterized as self-defense. The prosecution alleges she stabbed the younger man to keep the relationship secret, after he sent “nasty, threatening texts suggesting he was going to reveal the romantic relationship to family,” prosecutor Clayton Hayden said in his opening remarks.<doc-sep>A woman in Southern Texas found guilty of the 2016 killing of her nephew, who she admittedly had an affair with, received a minimum prison sentence for the crime on Thursday. Andira Abdelaziz, 37, testified in front of a jury last week that she had fatally stabbed 25-year-old Mohammed Abdelaziz on Aug. 9, 2016. She claimed her actions were in self-defense after he allegedly banged on her windows and attacked her after he entered her Northwest Bexar County home in San Antonio. She faced up to life in prison for the crime but jurors determined that the woman had killed in "sudden passion" and lowered the possible prison sentence to a minimum of two years. "She was trying to survive," defense attorney Liza Rodriguez told the jury, according to the San Antonio Express-News. "The state didn't contest that she was a victim of domestic violence. Usually, the woman is the one who is dead…If you believe she acted in fear for her life, find that she did this is sudden passion." According to the woman's attorney, her nephew had verbally and physically abused her over the course of three years while they were romantically involved. The two were related by way of marriage. "[He was] calling her the most vile names that I think any person could call another person, describing what he's going to do to her," defense attorney Mike McCrum told the jury, according to mySanAntonio. The defense argued that the woman's actions were out of fear that news of the relationship would eventually come to light and that her family would be disappointed. The nephew allegedly sent his aunt threatening text messages before she stabbed him. "He sent nasty, threatening texts, suggesting he was going to reveal the romantic relationship to family," Prosecutor Clayton Haden said, according to mySanAntonio. "The defendant gave a statement. Not once in that statement does she mention that the victim touched her that day." Police arrived at the home following a report regarding a possible disturbance. But officers left the house after the woman insisted nothing had happened. Andira then allegedly stabbed her nephew in the back with a kitchen knife, KSAT reported. After the verdict, Mohammed Abdelaziz’s father, Aziz, said his family would never reconcile after the loss of his son. "I have lost my son," he told Express-News. "Nothing will bring him back. I cannot say what should be done with Andira. Andira is a human being and me and my family don't wish harm on anyone. We leave it with God." Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images<doc-sep>SAN ANTONIO – Updated at 6:30 p.m.: A jury deliberated for six hours Wednesday before the judge sent them home. Jurors will resume deliberations at 9 a.m. Thursday. Original story: Andira Abdelaziz doesn't deny plunging a knife into the back of her 25-year-old nephew, but she insists she did it to end years of mental and physical abuse. Prosecutors said the couple had been involved in an intimate affair for three years, and when the woman's nephew, Mohammed Abdelaziz, sent her e-mails threatening to expose their relationship, she killed him. The defense claimed the stabbing was in self-defense. But prosecutors aren't buying her story. "'I've been hit before and I don't want it to happen again, so I pre-emptively used self-defense,'" prosecutor Clayton Haden said during closing arguments. "That's what they're asking you to buy into." Ad Haden said there was no immediate danger, although he didn't minimize the fact that the defendant had been abused, which her lawyers noted. "He controlled her," defense attorney Lisa Rodriguez told the jury. "He tortured her, and he physically abused her numerous times." Defense attorney Mike McCrum said the stabbing was a classic case of domestic violence. "We have to hold sacred the right to defend yourself," he said. If a jury finds Andira Abdelaziz guilty, she could face a maximum punishment of life in prison.<doc-sep>
In the days and hours before a Palestinian-American woman drove a knife through the heart of her secret lover, her 25-year-old nephew, the 6-foot-5, 213-pound man beat her, sometimes in public in San Antonio, and threatened her life in hours of texting, she told jurors Tuesday. On trial for murder, Andira Abdelaziz, 37, testified for hours in her own defense, describing the run-up to the August 2016 killing. RELATED: Jury's verdict sends killer into frenzy in S.A. courtroom Mohammed Abdelaziz, a law school graduate, repeatedly called his girlfriend a “daughter of a whore” and worse epithets, according to police transcripts of their conversations in dozens of text messages. He told the woman he would come over to her Northwest side home, look through the front window and if she wasn’t on the couch - suggesting she was sleeping with her husband, his uncle — “Your life is over. Your kids are over. You’re dead.” On the morning she killed him, Abdelaziz came to the home, rang the doorbell constantly and pounded on the windows in front of her kids, according to testimony by both Andira Abdelaziz and by her teenage son on Friday. After her nephew hit her in the face, stomach and back with balled fists, she didn’t call 911 immediately because she thought she could calm the man down and thought the exposure of her affair would ruin her children’s lives and endanger her own if her attacker or family members targeted her for an “honor killing.” RELATED: Officials: Designer Kate Spade left suicide note Police handcuffed him briefly but let him go and left when she told officers she mistakenly thought he was an intruder, according to testimony. Minutes later, she stabbed him once with a kitchen knife. Bruce Selcraig is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. | BSelcraig@express-news.net