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Woman Who Once Claimed She Was Arrested For Being Too "Pretty" Now Sentenced in Mom's Murder

Hend Bustami reportedly told investigators that she and her mother Afaf Hussanen were fighting about cigarettes before she killed her by breaking a glass table over her head and stabbing her.

By Gina Salamone
A personal photo of Afaf Hussanen

A woman who once told cops during an unrelated dine-and-dash arrest that they had "never seen anyone as pretty as her" has now been sentenced for killing her mother. 

Hend Karim Bustami, 29, was sentenced to at least 15 years in prison for killing her mom, 61-year-old Afaf Hussanen, in October of 2022, according to Las Vegas station KLAS-TV. She had previous pleaded “guilty but mentally ill” to second-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon in the incident that occurred in the home they shared in Las Vegas.

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How was Afaf Hussanen killed? 

At a grand jury hearing earlier this year, prosecutors played a 911 call that authorities said Bustami placed on October 26, 2022, at around 2:30 a.m., in which the young woman is heard telling a dispatcher: “I think I killed my mommy.” Investigators said that Bustami broke a glass table over her mom’s head and also stabbed her with glass.

Later that morning, Bustami was taken into custody in Barstow, California, Oxygen.com previously reported, citing a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department press release and San Bernardino County jail records.

While talking to the California Highway Patrol troopers who spotted her driving before she was arrested, Bustami, who was covered in blood, told them she'd killed her mom, KLAS reported.

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Why did Hend Bustami kill her mother?

Bustami told investigators that she and her mom were fighting about cigarettes before she killed her, grand jury transcripts show, according to KLAS. 

In a separate incident, Bustami was arrested at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on August 31, 2022, court records reviewed by Oxygen.com showed. Police were called after Bustami ate at a Chili's at the airport and allegedly split without paying for her food, KLAS reported at the time.

Authorities eventually located her at the airport after TSA agents discovered a woman matching Bustami's description unconscious near a security checkpoint.

Cops found Bustami near the baggage claim area and said she was “belligerent with officers, saying she was being harassed because cops [had] never seen anyone as pretty as her,” police reports reviewed by KLAS stated.

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Authorities also found out that there was a warrant out for her arrest in another case, in which she was cited for battery while police were trying to arrest her on June 1 of 2022. At that time, Bustami, allegedly told officers "that she was going to spit on all [of them] and that officers were perverts and were trying to rape her because they have never seen anyone as good looking,” the arrest report said, KLAS reported.

When will Hend Bustami be eligible for parole? 

Bustami, who received a sentence of 15 years to life for killing her mother, will be eligible for parole in 2037 with credit for time served, KLAS reports. 

She was found competent to stand trial, however her public defender said that a psychologist found that she was suffering from psychosis and needed continuing psychiatric treatment. Bustami will reportedly have to receive care for mental illness as part of her sentence. 

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