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The brutal murders of two Western women who dedicated themselves to helping refugees have exposed a deeply troubling pattern of violence against women by male asylum seekers from misogynist cultures.
In Ireland, American heiress Jamey Carney, 43, was found suffocated in her Killarney home on July 7, 2026. In Greece, Scottish aid worker Elisabeth-Jane Ross, 38, was discovered stuffed in a suitcase in an abandoned Athens building. Both women were sympathetic to migrants. Both trusted the wrong men. Both are now dead.
The Irish Case: Love, Inheritance and Betrayal- Jamey Carney, originally from Westchester County, New York, relocated to her ancestral home of Killarney in May 2021 with her teenage daughter Michaela, believing it would offer a better life. She worked for a healthcare consulting company and became involved in a local pro-Palestine support group.
At a pro-Palestinian rally in Killarney about 18 months ago, Carney met Ahmad Al-Saqar, a 28-year-old Jordanian national who had entered Ireland via the UK in 2024. He had initially travelled to Northern Ireland before crossing into the Republic to claim asylum.
Their relationship developed, and they became engaged. Al-Saqar often referred to Carney in social media posts as "my love" and "my heart." Carney frequently posted photos of them together.
A Deadly Night and a Swift Escape- On the night of July 6, 2026, Carney was fatally assaulted in the bedroom of her Muckross Road home. She was beaten and asphyxiated. Her body was not discovered until 1.23pm the following day, when her 13-year-old daughter returned from a sleepover.
By then, Al-Saqar had already fled. Gardaí established he had left Carney's home in the early hours of July 7, catching a Green Coach from Mission Road in Killarney at 4.30am to Bachelors Walk in Dublin. He took a taxi to Dublin Airport, boarding Turkish Airlines flight TK1978 to Istanbul at 10.40am.
He had landed or was about to land in Istanbul when gardaí received the report of Carney's death at 1pm.
The Jordan Detention and Legal Hurdles- Al-Saqar was detained by Jordan's Public Security Directorate just over 24 hours after his arrival in the Middle Eastern country. He can be held for an initial period of 15 days, with a judge able to extend detention to up to 18 months for serious offences.
However, Ireland and Jordan have no extradition treaty. Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan has suggested "innovative mechanisms" may allow gardaí to question the suspect in Jordan and "even perhaps being able to bring him back."
Irish authorities note he had been living in Ireland for two years from 2024, but the State was not required to seize his passport under regulations at the time. New EU legislation requiring all asylum applicants to surrender their passports only came into effect on June 12, 2026.
The Athens Suitcase Murder -Meanwhile, in Greece, Elisabeth-Jane Ross, a committed Christian from Edinburgh, had flown into Athens on June 26 to volunteer with refugees through organisations like One Heart. She was a member of the City on a Hill church for 20 years.
The suspect, Sharif Ahmadzai, 26, is an Afghan refugee and champion boxer who won the Greek super-lightweight boxing title in March 2023. He travelled to Greece via Iran and Turkey after being orphaned at 15, settling in a refugee camp on Lesbos where he met his American wife, Alaina Hall, converted to Christianity and set up the charity Love Every Nation Athens.
Ahmadzai's father, a commander in the Afghan army, was shot dead by the Taliban. The rest of his immediate family was killed by a suicide car bombing in Kabul when he was 15.
How the Suspect Was Caught- Police believe Ahmadzai had a key to the apartment where Ross was staying and worked as a cleaner there. It was his own wife who alerted authorities, telling police she had woken to find him gone on the night of July 15 and tracked his live phone location to Ross's flat.
Hall told investigators her husband had given her €2,550 cash and a brand-new iPhone 17 Pro in the days following the murder, items she believed were purchased using money stolen from the victim.
A Greek police source told a journalist: "The testimony of the wife has been crucial and it would appear that she did not want to be part of the crime committed by her husband. Without her and CCTV evidence, we would not have been able to find this man."
CCTV Evidence and Confession-Security footage captured Ahmadzai wheeling a large red suitcase from Ross's apartment complex in the Exarchia district towards the Kypseli area where her body was later found. He was seen around 15 minutes later without the suitcase.
Ahmadzai has reportedly confessed to transporting Ross's body in the suitcase but denies murder. He faces charges of intentional homicide, robbery and weapons offences. A replica pistol and a knife were recovered and seized during searches of his home.
Police are working on three possible motives: Ross discovering Ahmadzai going through her belongings, a possible sexual motive, or an argument because Ross suggested the converted Christian should join her independent church.
A Disturbing Pattern Emerges- These cases follow a grim pattern. In 2020, Azam Mangori, an Iraqi Kurd whose asylum claim was rejected, murdered Lorraine Cox, 32, in his room above an Exeter takeaway. He used her phone and social media to pretend she was still alive.
In 2024, Rhiannon Skye Whyte, a 27-year-old mother-of-one, was murdered by Sudanese national Deng Chol Majek, who was housed at the Walsall hotel where she worked. He inflicted 23 puncture wounds, 19 to the head, with a screwdriver.
Recently, three recent arrivals to the UK, Ibrahim Alshafe, Abdulla Ahmadi and Karin Al-Danasurt, received lengthy sentences for the brutal rape of a young woman on Brighton beach.
Daily Dazzling Dawn investigation reveals that immigration systems designed to protect refugees are being exploited by those who bring violence to the very nations offering refuge.
