UPDATE: Galloway Man Found Guilty of Murder After Throwing Daughter Off Bridge
Shamsiddin Abdur-Raheem has been found guilty following nearly a week of jury deliberations.
Photos
GALLOWAY, NJ — A New Jersey man accused of murder by throwing his three-month old daughter off a bridge on the Garden State Parkway has been found guilty of murder, Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced Friday afternoon.
Shamsiddin Abdur-Raheem, 24, of Galloway, had been accused of murder by throwing his daughter, Zara Malani-Lin Abdur Raheem, out of the passenger side of his Dodge Caravan off the Alfred E. Driscoll Bridge on the Garden State Parkway in Woodbridge Township 140 feet in the Raritan River on Feb. 16, 2010.
The van was parked on the shoulder of the Parkway when he threw her out the window, Chiesa said.
He was found guilty by a Middlesex County jury following a two-week trial and four days of deliberation.
Vanetta Benjamin, Zara's mother, gave a brief statement to a room full of press on Friday afternoon, thanking the law enforcement and legal teams involved in the case.
Surrounded by law officials and members of her family, Benjamin, ended her statement by saying “God is good.”
She did not take questions from reporters.
Chiesa said the verdict showed the value placed on Zara’s life.
“Today, justice was granted for baby Zara,” he said, describing the verdict as one that “does not prompt celebration,” but still necessary.
Chiesa said he hoped the verdict brought “some measure of peace,” to Zara’s family.
Deputy Attorney General Andrew C. Fried said that he was asked why the verdict took time to be returned, which he said reflected a serious and attentive jury.
Abdur-Raheem was also found guilty of kidnapping and two counts of simple assault in connection of the kidnapping of his daughter from an East Orange apartment belonging to the baby's grandmother, Chiesa said.
The baby was living with her mother and grandmother in the apartment.
He was acquitted of the charge of attempted murder of the baby's grandmother, but he was convicted of assault and assault with an automobile, according to Chiesa.
Fried said Abdur-Raheem faces 30 years to life in state prison on the murder charge, plus a consecutive sentence of up to 30 years on the kidnapping charge.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 7, he said.
“We are grateful to the jurors, who had to listen and watch as the heartbreaking events in this tragic case of domestic violence were re-created, and who by their verdict delivered justice for Zara, her mother and the grandmother who tried to defend her,” Chiesa said in a release. “Our attorney, detectives and entire trial team deserve great credit for their skilled handling of this case. It’s important that, by their efforts, they affirmed that Zara’s life was of great value and asserted that the man who took her life must face the full consequences of his crime.”
“From the moment police heard that a baby was thrown from the Driscoll Bridge, this case commanded our attention,” Division of Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor said in a release. “The rescue efforts sadly were doomed, but an excellent team of investigators and attorneys, led by members of the State Police Major Crime Unit and the Division of Criminal Justice and assisted by other law enforcement agencies, immediately began a painstaking pursuit of evidence and justice, which has brought us to this verdict.”
Vanetta Benjamin had custody of the baby and had procured a restraining order against Abdur-Raheem the day the baby was killed, Chiesa said. At the time of the kidnapping, the baby was being watched by the grandmother, Leno Benjamin, Chiesa said.
Abdur-Raheem went to the apartment around 4 p.m. that day, Chiesa said. According to Chiesa, Benjamin asked Abdur-Raheem to leave, but he refused. He then grabbed her arm before striking the 60-year-old Benjamin in the head, choked her and kidnapped his daughter.
Surveillance video shows Benjamin followed Abdur-Raheem out of the apartment and attempted to stop him, but he struck her with the van, Chiesa said.
He then headed south. After throwing his daughter into the river, he went to Atlantic City to see his imam, his Islamic religious leader, and confessed to him what he had done, according to Chiesa. The imam drove him to the home of his parents, where he confessed to his parents as well, Chiesa said.
He was arrested by State Police at 8 p.m. that night. The baby's body was found by surveyors two months later, on April 24, 2010.
An autopsy determined that she died from blunt force trauma and drowning, Chiesa said.
During the trial, Abdur-Raheem testified that his daughter appeared to be dead before he tossed her from the bridge. He said she fell to the floor and hit her head when he was tussling with the grandmother, Chiesa said.
Blue Anchor Guy
12:54 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
The jury made the correct decision. I am sure they found it disconcerting when he claimed the child "was already dead" when he threw her off the bridge. Oh, yeah? If that was true, how, then, did she die in the first place. Otherwise, I guess he wanted the jury to believe that's how he and his family "bury" all their deceased loved ones.,
christinedahll
9:38 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
whatever the reason was he is the cause. It's so sad when life never gets to grow to it's full potential. I feel so badly for that mother and grandmother!
Murray Le Murr-mur
1:22 am on Sunday, September 9, 2012
is there a bridge between the court and prison :-)
RCL67
1:47 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
He'll get his in jail.. Even prisoners have a "code". RIP sweet angel...
Tamara Kostjukoff
3:39 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
you've got that right. baby killers, pedophiles and rapists are despised in prison. hes best bet is to hang himself. stupid man.
mary barnes
4:15 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
You are so right and no matter what an inmate does the convicts live by the code that anyone who hurts or kills a child is the lowest of all lows. A convict is the old timers where the inmate is the young ones who fill the prisons today but Convicts still rule.
My2Dollars
4:34 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
I wish they had the death penalty but instead of something as peaceful as lethal injection, they hit him on the head and drowned him! What an ANIMAL!!
Did he ever hear of hospitals? She hit her head on the floor and is injured so you throw her off a bridge?? What the F is wrong with these people these days?
Are people getting more evil or are we just hearing of these things more because of access to the media? I don’t like most of the news I hear/read these days. It SCARES the crap out of me!!!
Evil people, evil deeds – killing their children & spouses like cowards and then committing suicide? Killing other people’s children after they molest them? What has the world come to that we have people like this living in our society?? WHY???
Is it because we are becoming such a Godless society and evil is pervasively infecting every nook and cranny of our communities unchecked? Less and less faith and more evil encompassing the world… ??
We are so concerned about taking the word “God” (and any and every reference to any type of “God”) out of the public, out of our schools and off of our monuments that we have become a society of increasingly evil, godless beings without soul or conscience; raping and pillaging like savages. It disgusts me that people like this “thing” walk the earth and are permitted to continue to breathe.
My2Dollars
4:35 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
I hope they treat him as he should be treated in prison – “do unto others ”…. Please do fellow prisoners! Do what the courts were unable to do and punish him as he should be punished for doing that to a sweet, innocent, helpless, loving baby! Show him how it feels to be helpless while he is savaged by evil!!
Sarah Allen
5:34 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Yes they do. Even though some of them are hardened criminals, they do have a code that they abide by & that is if anyone harms a child, they will pay for it. The inmates will see to that.
Tina
3:36 am on Sunday, September 9, 2012
RCL67 you got that right, he might as well hang himself in jail because the others will take care of him soon enough!!! RIP Sweet baby :(
Disco Superfly
2:18 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
Please throw him off the bridge!!!!! Save the tax payers some money!!!
jessy
6:26 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
Horrific story. There is no sentence harsh enough in our legal code for a crime like this.
make my day
8:49 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
May the GOOD LORD keep you safely in his arms, sweet angel! This is why the death penalty is needed!
Capt Jacobsen Mey
11:41 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
Death Penalty NEEDS to be reinstated in NJ... Thanks to Corzine abolishing it, he gave Killers a pass to kill...
Giving these scumbags "life" does nothing more than cost taxpayers more money per year AND creates over crowded prisons. It's a JOKE to house, feed, educate and pamper murderers for years, even after they have been found 100% guilty of their crime. These hoodlums get more rights than their victims, it's ridiculous.
.
11:45 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
Yes, we do need the death penalty back and we need to use it. Something has to deter these criminals from these horrific crimes.
Nathaniel Forrest
6:58 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
GOOD LORD??? really?? Why didn't this "good" lord send an angel down to catch the baby before it hit water that was hard as concrete when it his at 120 mph?? This alleged "god" spent the entire old testament interferring with human life, killing people for lying and even wiping out millions, many innocent, in the great flood he cause. One would think that something as unusual as a baby being thrown off the bridge would catch his attention since he supposedly sees and knows all. Or he/she/it just doesn't care anymore
Robert Malcolm Menefee
8:43 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
To New Jersey Voters: You need to bring back "Old Smokey". as death is the only just punishment for killers like this.Some liberals will say that capital punishment somehow cheapens the value of human life.Well,our laws do indeed cheapen the value of INNOCENT human life when we are too kind to those who so randomly take it. I think its totally insane that the life of an adult murderer is placed at a higher value than that of an innocent child.
beth
8:52 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
30 years for killing your own child???? Why not just spank him & give him a time out??
Michael Guenther
11:26 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
30 years is a minimum sentence. It's likely that the judge will sentence him to life without parole plus 30 years for kidnapping plus more for assaulting the grandmother. He'll spend every night of the rest of his life locked in a small cell. Good riddance
marylou
6:39 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Don't worry.If her gets 30 yrs.,he won't live ,long enough to serve the full sentence.
No Remorse
11:58 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
I say bring back the public hangings maybe witnesses will think twice before taking someone elses life.
Jane Brown
6:21 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
I am so with you, bring back public hangings, When someone does something this evil,he needs to suffer. How about pouring hot tar on him or throw gasoline on him and threw a match.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CAMERON
9:18 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
I agree to easy.
christinedahll
9:43 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Here's the problem I have with this. Are we a more violent society because we give out weak punishments, or punishments that seem weak? Or would the violence be here anyway. I then to think it's the former. I really do. I don't think the penalty makes the criminal decide not to do it. If that were the case there wouldn't be murder. I am so sick of reading stories like this one. Then the idiot said she looked dead? So what? My God the first thing I would have done is drive to a hospital and make sure my child is ok. He was entrusted with that child here on earth what right does he have to take it's life. God Bless that baby.
Richmusak
6:31 am on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Life means nothing to a scumbag like this soooo kill him!!
Gail Smith
2:12 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Rip little girl.
What that poor grandmother went threw trying to keep the child away from him. So sorry for the family's loss.
He was going to confess to his religious leader? He needs to be locked up for eternity. There is no punishment strong enough for him-it should be death-but rotting in jail forever is good too. Why are people so hateful ? Why hurt an innocent child? I don't understand anymore. Just don't understand all the hate and killing of ones own children. Way too much of it happening these days.
Hazel Royer
5:21 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
people have no thought about having an abortion!yes killing babies befor they are born & removing God from everything!why wouldnt people believe that killing is ok? jaroy
Jenna Jones
2:16 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
This guy should be taken to the tallest cliff and be tossed like he did to the three month old. There is no need for him to survive on taxpayers money. 30 years means nothing. Either death penalty or cliff tossing. What an indian muslim animal. Indian muslim terrorists are capable of destroying an entire nation so this comes as no shock.
ashley
2:40 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Disgusted man..... he shuld b electricuted SLOWLY or yes tossed off a bridge but with heavy traffic!!!! Gve him the feeling he did that innocent angel bby!!! But leave n gods hands cause karma is ugly n he will definitely get her real soon!!!! Smh r.i.p bby girl :( yu can b playn with my bby boy n heaven :(
Lori Morrison
2:42 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
When that poor excuse of a man goes to prison, place him in general population and make sure every inmate there knows what he did. Then he will truly be living in Hell on earth.
Tina B
3:34 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Hi confessed to his Imam, he confessed to his parents, they found the baby's dead body. Why was there even a trial??? This guy needs to fry!
Heather
3:43 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
This makes me sick to my stomach!! I hope they really torture him in prison. What a discusting human being. Actually he doesn't even deserve the title animal..what an insult to them. I hope he gets it in jail...then rots in hell. Rest in peace baby girl..in heaven with my little angel.
Troy G
3:55 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
I just hope they have the darkest, smallest maximum security prison to hide him in the bowels of so that we never have to be reminded of this horrific act again!
ECR
4:04 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
These phony Muslims are so tedious. He runs off to confess to his imam, like he's some sort of religious type, but he doesn't mind having sexual relations out of wedlock (he's not married to the late child's mother) or committing murder.
marylou
6:40 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
There are plenty of "Chirtistians" who do the same thing.
David
4:09 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
The nation of islam must be proud that one of its members killed a female and a child to boot. They will be honoring him with a day of celebration very soon. Then Obama will pardon him.
lita
4:31 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Are you as hard on "Christians" who do the same thing? Murdering ministers are not the anomaly we think they would be, but there have been more instances of it in the last ten years than most would believe. (CBS' "48 Hours" has featured at least three of them in the last few years.) You know what? Obama will not pardon this cretin for what he has done. But I'll forgive you for being so stupid.
.
12:48 am on Sunday, September 9, 2012
What in the world does Obama have to do with this?
Eenkling
4:39 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Hey, the first thing I think of doing when my child gets injured is to drive to the local bridge and toss it in... What a creep! Can we deport Raheem's parents and the imam for being bad parents and advisors? I can't believe that he confessed to his imam that he killed an innocent 3 month old baby, and the imam decided the best thing to do was drive him to his parent's home. Was the police station too far?
marylou
6:41 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
I think they are all US citizens.Many Muslims are.
Carol
4:48 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Dealth penalty is justice in this case..nothing less.
EILEEN
5:15 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Baby Zara .... You will not be forgotten.....
Lisa
5:21 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
This murderer should be thrown off the same bridge,
i hope he rots in hell.
TJ
5:35 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
I see nothing cruel and unusual about the concept of punishment fitting the crime. I'd be happy to toss this piece of scum off the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland. I 'd drive his ass across the 4 and 1/2 miles of the bridge several times, making him sweat until I decide when to throw his ass off. that will be the last he sees of any water before he reaches Hell where he belongs.
Lisa
5:45 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
He`ll get what`s coming to him when the prison guards
escort him to the shower, it will be his last.
Nathaniel Forrest
6:46 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
DREAM ON. IT would be nice if people who comment had more education on the topic than what they see on network television. His fellow BLACK MUSL!M bruthas will embrace him and to the rest, he will be just another one of the black males who make who make up 50% of VIOLENT OFFENDERS IN PRISON. Pretty amazing for a group that is just 6% of the US population
Nathaniel Forrest
6:35 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
ISLAM the religion of PEACE strikes again
Nathaniel Forrest
6:43 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
RACISTS DON'T READ THIS !!!
In spite of the RACIST rhetoric around a certain racist having some predisposition towards killing children, the facts tell otherwise.
Whites are 70% of the US population. Unless whites were way more than 70% of offenders in any crime category, the notion that whites are the"most" of any offenders means nothing. Of course 70% of the population should provide "most" of the offenders for any crime. its called basic math
HOWEVER, blacks, who are 12% of the population account for over 35% of FILICIDE offenders, parents who kill their children. The difference is that when middle class suburban white women do it, it IS news. Black children die all the time in the ghetto at the hands of their parents but it does not make it past local news unless the case is at a new low beyond any previous cases of blacks killing their children
Mathematically it works out to BLACKS BEING FOUR TIMES MORE LIKELY TO KILL THEIR CHILDREN THAN WHITES.
SORRY, RACIST WHITE-HATERS, hate to spoil one of the few "facts" you had to justify all black violent crime. FYI, the white serial killer thing is a myth too
Nathaniel Forrest
6:47 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
"GOD IS GOOD" ???????? WOW! If that is an example of a "good" god what does god do when he/she/it is bad?
Cathy T.
6:56 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
The devil is having his full sway of demonic infiltrations in a society that rejects the true and living God and want to blame the evil that has infested our society on God or use as an excuse people who call themselves Christians doing evil things. God help us to once again acknowlege you , our creater. This man is demon possessed. Satan's biggest ploy is to get people to believe that he does not exist. or laugh about the mention of him . God we have become a godless nation, forgive us We repent and ask for forgiveness for turning our backs on you! thank you for the precious blood of Jesus! May this child rest in your arms of love!
Nathaniel Forrest
6:59 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
BIGGER QUESTION?? Why did the MORONS on the jury have to be sent back THREE times for what was a crystal clear case of guilt?
facehead
7:40 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
This has less to do with race and religion than a man who would do ANYTHING to hurt the mother of his child. He hates the mother, so he kills the child. This man didn't want to be loved, he wanted to be WORSHIPPED so when he didn't get the worship he wanted, he killed the baby girl
drof2th
8:02 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Isn't this is what many people call late term abortion, just a few months earlier!
Either way is dispicable!!!
Lisa
9:21 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Any parent that murders a child shouldn`t live to see tomorrow`s sunrise.
Martin Lowing
1:41 am on Sunday, September 9, 2012
Parents murder there children everyday,they just call it abortion.And yes some of these children could live outside the womb.So its not much difference then throwing the children off a bridge
John Jay
9:38 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Is this man a U.S. citizen/Muslim convert or is he in this country illegally?
John Jay
9:58 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Thank Jon Corzine and the criminal-loving Democrats for removing the only real deterrent to mutants that prey on children: the death penalty.
Hey -- what do you expect from a political party that supports impeached and disbarred former Presidents and wants to re-elect a President who couldn't pass a background check to be a janitor at the FBI!
Martin Lowing
1:55 am on Sunday, September 9, 2012
Im a democrat and I support the death penalty.As for impeached presidents Bill Clinton was one of the best presidents this country ever had and the smartest,thats why he left our country in the black and no unfinshed wars and a great economy.Its to bad GW came along and screwed everything up. While the repubs in congress were tying up the whole country osama was busy making his plans for 9/11.What a shame
Joan Bogorae
10:04 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
There is no punishment enough for the horrific thing he did to that innocent baby.
He needs to suffer terribly ,then be tossed into a blazing fire.
uncommonsensesc
12:45 am on Sunday, September 9, 2012
Justice was NOT served - anything less than a bullet to the brain is not justice for that little girl!!! And yes, I would be more than glad to volunteer my services for free!
Tami Hunter
4:16 am on Sunday, September 9, 2012
Where do you all get the idea that baby rapers/killers will "get what they have coming in prison"? If that were true, there would be NO baby rapers/killers in there, yet there are hundreds and hundreds already in there and more going in every day and the reason that more and more are willing to go to prison for that sick thrill is because they are NOT put in with the other prisoners. They are segregated (separated) for their safety. If they allowed the scum to be hurt, the scums family will sue the prison system. After all, even scum have rights. Just ask the bleeding hearts. If it were up to me, as soon as the jury said guilty, the scum would be taken out back and shot.
Carole Briscoe
5:30 am on Sunday, September 9, 2012
You are exactly right, these low-life system abusers know that they will be separated in prison and put into single cells etc. It makes me sick to think about that poor little girl, God bless her and may her moronic father rot in hell.
MichaelZarathustra
6:37 am on Sunday, September 9, 2012
Tie his hands behind his back, and throw him off the same bridge.....
John Jay
7:12 am on Sunday, September 9, 2012
Martin Lowing -- Clinton had the chance to grab Bin Laden too -- and turned it DOWN. You need to know your history, pal.
Lenn Liggins
9:05 am on Sunday, September 9, 2012
This is a man who on a rocket to hell and let's hope the boys on the inside get some justice.
Texas NDN
9:39 am on Sunday, September 9, 2012
He has a severe cranial lead deficency. Hopefully someone will cure it.
Littleone
11:44 am on Sunday, September 9, 2012
Such a sad story, To bad the same jury was not in Florida about a year ago. seems they had their eyes wide open.
2much2say
2:22 pm on Sunday, September 9, 2012
What a horrible act!..
I must say that this has not one thing to with religion or politics. Most of you view the world as it were perfect but I must tell you that these people are born with this sickness. Do you think you would wake up one day and say umm, today I'm going to molest a child? No, you are Born with this sickness. Just how some of you believe you can pray away the gay. C'mon people wake up already it's 2012 things have changed. This man is sick to the core of his heart. He will defiantly get his. RIP little baby girl!
D
2:50 pm on Sunday, September 9, 2012
Dear GOD....
Sometimes you do make mistakes........WHAT PLANET DID THIS CRETIN COME FROM???
What nature of human being throws an infant off a bridge???
If I'm the judge.....LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE IN A HARD LABOR MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON or LETHAL INJECTION. We don't need people like this on the planet. Period.
joani mitchell
9:34 pm on Sunday, September 9, 2012
john jay this story was about a little girl that was murdered and her family has to read your tripe about obama and clinton and all your wacked out political theories. do you think the family of this little girl want to read how you used this story to push your tea party gibberish? give it a rest already.
-She
11:17 pm on Monday, September 10, 2012
I couldn't agree more!!!
al davis
8:56 am on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
was it absolutely necessary to give him a trial? just throw him off the same bridge
Joe R
10:13 am on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
We live in a country that believes in laws and that assumes that a suspect is innocent until proven guilty. We do not believe in a crazed blood-thirsty lynch mob ready to string up someone without a trial. We go through this nonsense every time some horrible act of criminality occurs; people in the comments section screaming for blood, mob rule and vigilante "justice." Even the worst criminal monster is entitled to legal representation, due process and a trial. Because it does happen that innocent people have been accused and if you or anybody were falsely accused, you would want due process and a fair trial. I am appalled and enraged at this heinous act of depravity and cruelty but we do have a legal system in place which should be respected.