Dubai: A lawyer asked a court yesterday to add a new charge of disposing the body of 36-year-old South African Kerry Winter against the Briton accused of killing her.
Advocate Hussain Al Jaziri, who represents Kerry's family, asked the Dubai Court of First Instance to send back the case to the Public Prosecution for a reinvestigation.
"According to Article 17 of the Criminal Procedures Law, we ask the jury to send back the case to prosecutors for further investigations in the body's disappearance… Our clients are seeking Dh200,000 in blood money to be paid to Kerry's family," said Al Jaziri when he presented a written plea to the court.
The 43-year-old British suspect, M.A., has pleaded not guilty to charges of premeditatedly killing Kerry, tying weights to her body and dumping her in the sea.
Presiding Judge Al Saeed Mohammad Barghout adjourned the case until March 18 for the lawyers to present their closing arguments.
Dressed in his white prison costume, M.A. was spotted walking back to the dock as soon as his lawyer, Yousuf Hammad, informed him that the case had been adjourned.
In an earlier hearing Hammad asked the court for his British client's passport in order to prove he did not premeditatedly kill Kerry. The lawyer asked the court to release M.A.'s passport from Dubai Public Prosecution's requisition and attach it to the case file.
"Your Honour, my client was charged with premeditated murder. Directly after the incident, he left Dubai for few days and returned. Had he been guilty, why would he return?" Hammad said.
"It is a crucial and essential pleading in our defence to get his passport and prove to the jury that his travel document carried an exit stamp [dated after the incident] and an entry stamp as well. We want to prove that had he committed premeditated murder, he would not have returned to Dubai."
Every time he showed up in courtroom four, M.A. repeatedly complained about the delay in court proceedings. "Too much… too long. It's a farce. I want to submit my defence now," the suspect said in one of the hearings.
The trial continues.
