Chilling second dishonest husband walks his pregnant mistress to her demise: CCTV reveals killer coming into woods with girlfriend – then returning alone after murdering her
The chilling moment a cheating husband led his pregnant mistress from his car to her death in the woods has been revealed in CCTV footage released by West Midlands Police.
In the shocking video, Filmon Andmichaen, 31, can be seen exiting his white Toyota Yaris and heading off into the nearby woods with 26-year-old Liwam Bereket.
Moments later after disappearing out of view of the camera, Andmichaen returns to the car alone, having just killed the pregnant Bereket.
Earlier this week, Andmichaen was sentenced to life imprisonment for the ‘callous and cowardly’ murder of Bereket, in an inner-city patch of woodland off Freeth Street, Ladywood, Birmingham, on August 1 last year.
The pair had been in a relationship, but when Andmichaen found out about the baby, jurors heard he demanded she have an abortion.
The 26-year-old refused and so Andmichaen took matters into his own hands.
Judge Mr Justice Choudhury said he had no doubt that Andmichaen had intended to end Ms Bereket’s life and that of her unborn daughter when he stabbed her in the neck and left her to die face down in the grass for over an hour before calling 999.
Birmingham Crown Court heard heard the killer took his victim’s phone to make sure she could not call for help from the scene in the city’s Ladywood district. The handset was later found in the boot of his car.
Filmon Andmichaen (pictured), 31, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the ‘callous and cowardly’ murder of Liwam Bereket, in an inner-city patch of woodland off Freeth Street, Ladywood, Birmingham, on August 1 last year
Police at the scene of the crime on Freeth Street, Ladywood, Birmingham in August 2023. The court heard that when he dialled 999, Andmichaen asked the call handler to send officers to his address and he would show them where she was
Ms Bereket was six months pregnant and looking forward to becoming a mum at the time of the stabbing.
This was Andmichaen’s second trial after the first collapsed in March due to issues over the child destruction charge.
The issues were later resolved by the Court of Appeal and remained on the indictment that was put before jurors in the second trial, which began earlier this month.
Mr Patel said during the first trial that Andmichaen decided the life growing inside his girlfriend was ‘a complication he was unwilling to accept’.
The prosecutor added: ‘We say the defendant knew his actions would amount to the death of them both.
‘He couldn’t possibly have Liwam alive because she would identify him as the person who tried to kill her and he delayed in calling for help and disposed of the knife which would have had his DNA and her blood on it.’
He added: ‘The facts are as simple as they are gruesome. Filmon Andmichaen made a chilling decision…his solution to this was a permanent one.’
Andmichaen appeared in the dock alongside an interpreter who translated the proceedings into Tigrinya, a language spoken in east Africa.
Judge Choudhury said their relationship was ‘volatile’, that Andmichaen had tried to deny that he was the father of Ms Bereket’s child and that he held her ‘in low regard’.
He also said Andmichaen had tried to blame Ms Bereket for what had happened, saying she was the one who threatened to stab herself.
Police at the scene on Freeth Street, Ladywood, Birmingham. When Ms Bereket was eventually found, face down and bleeding from the neck in an area of overgrown bushes, an emergency Caesarean section was carried out to try to save her baby girl, but she was stillborn
Birmingham Crown Court where Andmichaen was jailed for a minimum of 27 years earlier this week
He said: ‘[Ms Bereket] was happy about the pregnancy. The same could not be said for you.
‘You insisted on there being a DNA test, you told her to have an abortion and threatened her.
‘I find your intention at that moment could only have been to end her life and that of her unborn child.’
He said Andmichaen had not shown any remorse for what he had done and that the only mitigating factor was his lack of any previous convictions.
In a statement read to the court, Ms Bereket’s family said the loss of their daughter and sister has ‘shatterd our lives in ways that are beyond words’.
Outside court, Detective Chief Inspector Jim Colclough from our Homicide Unit, said: ‘It’s just heart-breaking that a young woman who was looking forward to becoming a mum was killed in such a callous way.
‘This was a very distressing investigation for my team, but they have been determined to get justice for Liwam and her family.’
