Fresh trial ordered in wife's murder by Dubai-based former editor

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Fresh trial ordered in wifes murder by Dubai-based former editor

Dubai - On October 7, the appellate court found the ex-editor guilty of hacking his wife to death.

By Marie Nammour

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Published: Mon 17 Dec 2018, 8:00 PM

Last updated: Tue 18 Dec 2018, 11:36 AM

A Dubai-based former editor, convicted of hacking his wife to death, had his 15-year prison term reversed by the Dubai Court of Cassation on Monday.
The top court, presided over by judge Abdulaziz Abdullah, approved a plea filed by the defence lawyer of Francis Matthew, a 62-year-old Briton, and ruled the case be referred back to the Court of Appeals so to be re-heard by a different judicial panel.
On October 7, the appellate court found the ex-editor guilty of hacking his wife to death, and increased his prison term from 10 to 15 years.
While it upheld the deportation order, the Court of Appeals stiffened the 10-year imprisonment of Matthew after it modified the charge of assault resulting in his wife's death to premeditated murder.
His lawyer Ali Al Shamsi of Al Shamsi and Partners, Advocates and Legal Consultants, argued before the top court that the killing was not planned or intentional. "My client's relation with his wife, 63, had been good and they had been arranging to travel to attend their son's graduation ceremony. My client did not intend or plan to kill her but was rather carried away by a moment of rage."
Al Shamsi requested that the appellate court's verdict be revoked, citing flaws and lack of evidence that the killing intention was available. "My client's action came as a result of a series of verbal provocations by the victim. He was then agitated and behaved madly in an instant."
The lawyer stressed that his client was extremely provoked by the victim's attitude. "She was persistent in verbally abusing and demeaning him."
The British journalist, a former editor of a local newspaper, was sentenced by the Court of First Instance to a 10-year prison term, to be followed by deportation, on March 25 on a modified charge of assaulting his wife and causing her death. Prosecutors had initially accused him of premeditated murder.
Khaleej Times has learned from a source close to the case that the appellate court judge panel that looked into the case and pronounced the order changed the charge to premeditated murder after reaching a conclusion that "at a certain point during the heated argument, Matthew had with the victim on the incident night, he made up his mind to kill her. At that very moment, he was prompted to go to the kitchen and get the crime tool, a hammer, with which he hit his wife as she lay down in their bedroom. That was seen as an act of premeditated murder by the bench, presided over by Eissa El Sherif."
The case dates back to July 4, 2017, when he called the police to report that his wife was killed by thieves who had broken into his villa in Umm Suqeim 1 while he was away.
The husband eventually confessed to having hit his wife to death with a hammer, following a heated argument, claiming it was not intentional.
mary@khaleejtimes.com


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