Man accused of killing daughter speaks out in Phoenix court for first time

PHOENIX - A jury on Wednesday heard audio tapes of an emotional interrogation from the man accused of killing his daughter and hitting another woman with his Jeep.

"I'm not trying to kill my daughter," Faleh Hassan Almaleki told investigators. "If anything happened, accident."

As police questioned him, Almaleki's daughter, Noor, was fighting for her life in the hospital.

The detectives asked Almaleki if his family thought what he did was acceptable, since they allegedly gave him money and helped him flee the country. He told them family members help each other "put out the fire," when one of them is in trouble.

Almaleki insisted he loved his daughter, but that he lost control and that it was an accident.

"I run away because I've been waiting for my daughter, because if something happen to her, I kill myself," Almaleki told investigators.

"Well, something did happen to her," a detective shot back.

"My daughter, she passed away, I kill myself," said Almaleki. "That's what I've been waiting for."

But the Iraqi immigrant did admit he was trying to scare his daughter and perhaps hurt her. Police say the two had a tumultuous relationship and that he disapproved of her lifestyle.

Though investigators pushed Almaleki to say he committed the crime in order to restore honor to his family, he did not admit to that in the interview.

"Why didn't you stay to help her?" asked a detective.

"I was scared because I know Amal, she is going to try to put me into trouble," Almaleki answered, apparently referring to Amal Khalef, who was walking through the parking lot with Noor Almaleki and was also injured in the collision.

Noor Almaleki had been living with Khalef and her family, and had fallen in love with her son, a point of contention for her father.

Noor Almaleki died shortly after the interview.

If convicted of first degree murder, Almaleki faces life in prison.