Bittersweet holiday season for family of missing Kerry

Dubai: The merry-making end-of-year festivities are turning out to be an ordeal for the family of Kerry Winter, as they remember their young daughter, who went missing four months ago, in Dubai.

In her native South Africa, the Winter family are still hopeful that Kerry could be found and are awaiting the trial of her suspected assailant, M.A., 42, to come to an end.

Kerry Winter went missing after a quarrel with her ex-boyfriend, a Briton identified as M.A. He admitted to beating her and bundling her off in her own vehicle but has denied murdering her. Subsequent questioning by police and family members has been unsuccessful in the search of Kerry's body. The South African woman had been living in Dubai for about six years. At the end of August this year the relationship between Kerry and her boyfriend is said to have become tumultuous, family members told Gulf News.

Trial update

On August 24 things turned particularly sour and witnesses told a court that they had seen M.A. beating Kerry, and before driving off with her, had threatened them as well.

Support flooded in from community groups here for the family members who flew to Dubai to search for their sister and aunt. After spending up to two months here looking for his sister, Kurt Winter, 41, and nephew David Giles had to return home empty-handed.

Lia Winter, Kerry's sister-in-law, told Gulf News that the family is still liaising with South African officials in order to be updated on the trial of M.A.

"We are progressing slowly but believe that we will get justice in the end. We have to give the Dubai Police enough time to ensure that they have covered every angle before charging him so that they can charge him for as much as possible," she said.

"The family is trying to be strong but with this being our festive month of Christmas it has been extremely difficult," she added.