Tinley Park man sentenced to 29 years in prison for beating wife to death

A 54-year-old Tinley Park man was sentenced to 29 years in prison after being convicted of beating his wife to death with a piece of exercise equipment in 2012.

Bahaa Sam was sentenced with no possibility of parole by Circuit Judge Amy Bertani Tomczsk for the murder of his then wife, 38-year-old Nermeen Sam, according to the Will County state’s attorney’s office.

Sam beat his wife to death with a metal weightlifting bar on the morning of Dec. 19, 2012 following an argument, prosecutors said. Nermeen Sam was found lying outside of her home with severe trauma to the back of her head.

A witness at the trial reported seeing Sam strike his wife outside while his 4-year-old son was nearby, according to prosecutors. Sam’s three children testified against him at the trial.

“Sam’s ruthless beating of his wife as his innocent four-year-old son witnessed the atrocity is irrefutable evidence of an abandoned and malignant heart. Prison cannot undo the horror this cold-blooded murdered perpetrated upon his family,” Will County state’s attorney James Glasgow said.