DEARBORN HEIGHTS — A Dearborn Heights man accused of killing his mother last year has finally been sentenced after pleading guilty in the case.

Aaron Samir Akel, 46, of Dearborn Heights pleaded guilty on May 20 to second degree murder in the death of his mother, 73-year-old Ibtisam Field, who was found strangled to death on May 4, 2021.

In April 2021, Akel had been sentenced to three years probation for assault with intent to do great bodily harm and domestic violence stemming from an incident where he assaulted his mother in November 2020.

During the April 2021 sentencing, Field had asked for her son to be released and requested drug and mental health treatment for him. She also requested to be able to have contact with him, which the judge had denied.

When Akel was released on probation, a no contact order was in place, but Field still allowed her son to live with her. Akel did not contact his probation officer, but the officer tracked him down and referred him to a facility for treatment, which he did not report to and he was not able to be contacted again.

At approximately 4:40 a.m. on May 4, 2021, Dearborn Heights police were called to a home on the 5300 block of Pardee Avenue near Van Born Road, where they found Field’s body in a bedroom. Medical officials pronounced her dead at the scene of strangulation and Akel was arrested at the scene.

Akel was originally charged with first degree murder, which would have meant life in prison if convicted. However, he agreed to plead guilty to second degree murder and will spend at least 25 years in prison after being sentenced to 25 to 50 years.

“This is what we all fear in domestic violence cases,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy had said at the time of Akel’s arrest. “The assistant prosecutor appeared in court many times in this case. The defendant served his jail time and we worked with Mrs. Field with great care to craft a sentence that she supported to enable her son to get the help he needed. Very unfortunately, he refused to take advantage of the offered help. I would indicate for the record that the defendant is the one who called 911. And admitted on the 911 phone call that he is the one who strangled his mother to death, and in his words, he said, ‘I killed my mom.’”