Cempaka Belanda: Saudi prince found guilty of murdering his servant

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Saudi prince found guilty of murdering his servant

BBC News, 19 October 2010 Last updated at 14:06 GMT

A Saudi prince has been found guilty of murdering his servant at a hotel in central London.

The prince admitted killing his servant but
denied murder

Bandar Abdulaziz, 32, was found beaten and strangled in the Landmark Hotel, Marylebone, on 15 February 2010.

The Old Bailey was told the assault by Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud had a "sexual element" and he had attacked Mr Abdulaziz many times before he died.

Al Saud, 34, had admitted manslaughter but denied murdering Mr Abdulaziz in their suite at the five-star hotel.

The Saudi prince was also found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent in relation to an earlier attack in a hotel lift, a charge which he had also denied.

The 34-year-old was fuelled by champagne and cocktails when he bit his servant hard on both cheeks during the attack, the court heard.

The pair had just returned from a Valentine's Day night out when Al Saud launched the ferocious assault.

Al Saud will be sentenced on Wednesday.

Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud (L) is seen with his servant Bandar Abdulaziz in an elevator in London's Landmark hotel on January 22, 2010, in closed circuit television footage which was shown during a murder trial in London on October 5, 2010. (Credit: REUTERS/Metropolitan Police/handout)

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(Daily Mail)

Prince Saud faces the death penalty over his gay sex life if he ever returns to his home country and may have to apply for asylum when he is eventually released.

His lawyers failed in a last-ditch attempt to stop sordid details of his encounters with male escorts being revealed during the trial.

John Kelsey-Fry QC, defending, said Al Saud had already faced abuse from Islamic fundamentalists being held alongside him at Belmarsh prison.

The court heard that homosexuality remains a capital offence in Saudi Arabia, with the country in which the acts take place having little relevance to the prosecution, under the country's sharia law code.

Families of those accused have been known to push for the most severe penalties because of the perceived shame caused to them by homosexuality.

Saudi nationals have been granted asylum in the UK on the basis they were gay.

Mr Kelsey-Fry had unsuccessfully argued before the trial started to exclude evidence of the gay relationship from the evidence put before the jury.

In a sign of the anxiety about his sexuality becoming public, the prince's lawyers had even initially argued that this legal argument should be held behind closed doors.

He added: 'There have been difficulties in Belmarsh prison already whereby there are Islamists - Islamic fundamentalists - who have already caused difficulties with this defendant.'

Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said that while the defendant might be 'anxious' about this evidence about him, he would not be returning to his home country 'for some time'.

'He knows as he has no doubt been advised that if the time arises that a return to Saudi Arabia is contemplated and there is then a real risk to him suffering, he will be entitled to apply for asylum.'