The lover of a heavily pregnant Perth woman has been found guilty of her murder after a seven-week trial at which he tried to suggest that four other people, including his wife, could have been responsible.

WARNING: This story contains details that may distress some readers. 

Janet Dweh was 36 years old, and eight months pregnant with Hassan W Jabbie's child, when she was bludgeoned to death with a claw hammer in her home in the north-eastern Perth suburb of Dayton on October 3, 2021.

It was alleged Jabbie, 52, had murdered Ms Dweh — who already had three children — because he did not want her to have the baby.

Jabbie was married to another woman, although the court heard he was separated, but still living with his wife, at the time of Ms Dweh's death.

State prosecutor Paul Usher alleged that in the weeks leading up the murder, Jabbie sent Ms Dweh a series of messages, urging her to terminate her pregnancy.

The court heard one of them was a 33-minute voicemail in which he called Ms Dweh a "prostitute", a "harlot, and "a disgrace to humanity".

It was further alleged that after he was arrested, Jabbie told an undercover police officer, posing as another detainee, that he had buried items used in the killing in a vacant block near his house, including the metal object he had used to hit Ms Dweh.

Police then searched the site and found a blood-stained claw hammer and a pair of gloves with DNA on them that matched Ms Dweh's.

A hard drive containing CCTV footage from Ms Dweh's house was also found at the site.

Mr Usher alleged the footage showed Jabbie arriving at the home just before the murder and putting on gloves.

Alternative killers suggested

Jabbie denied having anything to do with Ms Dweh's death, and during the trial, his lawyer, Sean Dworcan, said the footage was not clear enough to determine who it was entering the property.

Mr Dworcan suggested other people could have been the killer, but he claimed police had not properly investigated them.

"The police were quite content to point the finger at Mr Jabbie and not think outside the box," Mr Dworcan submitted to the jury.

Among those named as the possible killer was Jabbie's wife, who Mr Dworcan said had "the most compelling motive out of any individual to prevent Ms Dweh from giving birth to Mr Jabbie's child".

Mr Dworcan said it was not being suggested that Mrs Jabbie killed Ms Dweh herself, but rather that she was the person who organised it.

"As far as the defence is concerned, she is at the top of the list," he submitted.

The defence also provided numerous other reasons why Jabbie should be acquitted of the murder.

They included that despite leaving what Mr Dworcan called the "highly offensive" 33-minute voice message for Ms Dweh, Jabbie did actually want the child she was carrying.

It was further claimed that Jabbie had "a clear and air-tight alibis" on the night of the murder because his daughter had testified he was at home at the time Ms Dweh was attacked.

Ms Dweh and Jabbie were both members of Perth's Liberian community.

The trial was originally set down for three weeks, but it ended up running more than double that time.

By the time the jury retired to consider its verdict, it was down to only 11 members instead of the usual 12.

The jury deliberated for a day before delivering the guilty verdict. 

'We got justice'

Outside court, Richard Barney, the national president of the All Krahn Association of Australia, said it was a difficult trial and he welcomed the result.

Mr Barney spoke in memory of Ms Dweh.

"Janet, rest in peace. Everyone has fought for you to make sure that you got justice. And today justice has prevailed. So thank you, rest in peace," he said.

"Your kids are here. We are going to take good care of them."