Husband Beats Wife to Death in Front of Children in Atyrau

Thirty-nine-year-old Lyazzat Taskynbayeva was killed by her husband, while their two young daughters witnessed everything. Her relatives told Orda.kz about the tragedy.

It happened on August 19. That day, the man once again began beating his wife. One of the blows struck the back of her head, and she stopped breathing.

The girls cried beside their mother, trying to wake her up, saying, “Mom, wake up!”

Lyazzat Taskynbayeva married 14 years ago. During her marriage, she gave birth to two daughters. Her sister, Maira, said Lyazzat’s husband abused her constantly, but she endured it for the sake of the family and believed he would change.

Why can’t a woman feel safe even in her own home? We live in the 21st century, in a modern and democratic country. Lyazzat had two little daughters. The eldest is in sixth grade, the youngest only in first. She hadn’t worked for the last two years, devoting herself to her girls. Their mother was their whole world. For the last five years of her life, her husband beat her systematically, especially when he drank. She endured it for the sake of the children, kept quiet, hoping he would change for the family’s sake.

After his wife’s death, the husband first called his sisters instead of an ambulance.

Lyazzat’s relatives claim they even refused to take her body from the morgue.

The fatal blow struck the back of her head. That’s what killed her. When my brother and sister arrived, the ambulance and police were already outside. Inside the house were her husband’s two sisters and the two little girls. The girls were crying over their mother’s body: ‘Mom, wake up! You’re just lying there! Get up!’ But Lyazzat could no longer answer, her sister recounted.

The children are now in a boarding school and need help from psychologists.

Apparently, when Lyazzat’s husband realized she was dead, the first thing he did was call his two sisters — not an ambulance or the police. Later, they showed cruelty, saying: ‘We don’t need the body, take it from the morgue yourselves.’ Such indifference and cruelty from women is a betrayal. If we had stayed silent, no one would have known about this tragedy. At first, the police denied it, then later confirmed it—only because we made it public and weren’t afraid of the backlash. This is not uyat (shame in Kazakh - Ed.), this is not a ‘family matter.’ This is murder. This is pain for the whole society. Lyazzat is gone. But her voice speaks through us. I am saying this because I have three daughters. And I do not want them to grow up in a country where a woman must remain silent about beatings, and where her life can end at the hands of the one who was supposed to protect her, said Maira.

The Atyrau Regional Police reported that a criminal case has been opened. The husband is currently in custody.

Original Author: Alina Pshenichnaya