Remand extended for Australian suspected of stabbing wife

John Paul Sebastian said he killed his wife because she had ruled over him for years using a power of attorney she refused to cancel.

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK
crime scene_521 (photo credit: Courtesy)
crime scene_521
(photo credit: Courtesy)
The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s court extended the remand on Tuesday of an Australian man suspected of stabbing his wife to death in a Tel Aviv hotel on Monday.
The suspect, John Paul Sebastian, a 45-year-old Australian national, was remanded for 7 days.
Judge Muki Landman also ordered that Sebastian undergo a psychiatric evaluation after initial reports indicated he is mentally ill.
Sebastian and his wife had been staying in the Dan Panorama Hotel for several days when the stabbing occurred at around 4:00 p.m. on Monday. The hotel’s security officer was the first to arrive on the scene after other hotel guests called to complain of shouts coming from the hotel room. Police and Magen David Adom paramedics were dispatched to the hotel but declared the woman dead at the scene.
In Monday’s hearing, which was attended by a representative from the Australian Consulate, police representative Arik Miodovsky told the court that Sebastian had been found in the hotel room, sitting on the bed next to a knife, his clothes covered in blood. Sebastian also had deep cuts on his arm.
According to Miodovsky, during police questioning on Tuesday, Sebastian initially claimed he had acted in self-defense but later changed his story when confronted with evidence against him. He told investigators where he had obtained the knife, and explained that he had stabbed the victim because she had ruled over him for years using a power of attorney that she refused to cancel.