Cassandra Hasonovic...convinced she was going to die at the hands of her husband.

Cassandra Hasonovic...convinced she was going to die at the hands of her husband.

CASSANDRA HASANOVIC was convinced she was going to die at the hands of her husband but her pleas for help - in Australia and Britain - fell on deaf ears.

"He said he was going to chop me up in little pieces and post me piece by piece to my family," she told police more than a year before her death.

The nightmare tale of the mother, 24, who was dragged out of a car and stabbed to death by her husband in front

of her mother and two young sons in July, neared its climax in a British court yesterday.

Mrs Hasanovic died hours after begging British police to drive her to a safe house: "I live in fear for my safety. I am so scared of him."

Her story was recounted this week during the trial of Hajrudin Hasanovic, 33, who was last night found guilty of murder and sentenced to 18 years in jail.

The jury learned how he was to have been deported to his native Serbia after losing custody of his children, following his conviction for sexually assaulting his wife.

They heard a damning story of a woman whose fears were ignored by authorities in two hemispheres for more than 12 months.

The five-year marriage ended in May 2007 after the sexual assault and Mrs Hasanovic fled to Australia, where she had relatives.

She lived in the safety of Sydney's western suburbs in the fervent hope of seeking custody of her sons.

But Lewes Crown Court, in West Sussex, heard that Australian authorities insisted she return to Britain, arguing the case had to be pursued there.

Philippa McAtasney, QC, who opened the case for the prosecution, told the court that she returned to Britain at the cost of her life.

In the months that followed her return, police were called to several violent confrontations between the couple, and officers equipped the young mother with a panic alarm.

Mrs Hasanovic's mother, Sharon De Souza, broke down as she described the terror inside the car on July 29, when her son-in-law appeared from nowhere and lunged at the car as she prepared to drive her daughter and grandsons to a refuge.

In the panic, the car's central locking was de-activated, allowing Hasanovic to reach into the back seat, where his wife was sitting between the boys, and drag her from the car.

"I just remember trying to start the car and the alarm went off and I could not get the car started … I could see a figure coming towards me in the shade …" Mrs De Souza said.

"I looked up again and he was staring towards me. I just thought: 'Oh, my God."'

Mrs De Souza said that she then got out of the car and desperately tried to call police on her mobile phone, but her hands were shaking uncontrollably.

She then saw Hasanovic drag her daughter from the car, leaving her face down on the pavement.

"She was lying on the ground. Her eyes were open and she was not moving at all.

"I didn't realise she was dead. I said: 'Come on, hold on, you're going to be OK.' I could see the blood [but] I could not take it in and I remember hearing the boys screaming."