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29 March 2024

Mark Arnold case adjourned for hearing witnesses

Published
By Eman Al Baik

The Dubai Appeal Courts adjourned the case of Mark Arnold who was awarded 15-year jail term for the murder of his South African ex-girlfriend Kerry Winter, 36, to September 5 to hear two affirmative witnesses, employees in the company where he worked.

Lawyer Hussain Al Jaziri, the plaintiff for the legal right on behalf of the victim’s family, presented oral and written defences in which he urged for the death penalty for the accused.

Al Jaziri stressed that Arnold committed a premeditated murder and that he is a dangerous person as he wickedly planned for the murder, got rid of all traces mainly the body of the victim which was not found.

He told the court that the accused, according to his confession and that of Morris Wibros - the company’s logistics director, had asked the latter to buy him a people-tracking device to trace the victim.

The accused allegedly also asked Morris to buy him a large cloth sack and water-proof bag in addition to 10 pieces of weight. Morris told the prosecution that he wondered why the accused needed these stuff.

The accused also asked the company to rent him a car, with tinted glass, and followed the victim in that. A day before he committed the crime, the accused allegedly asked both Morris and Asghar Khan, a driver at the company, to follow him in their respective cars and wait for the victim at the parking lot of Lamcy Plaza and follow her from the workplace. The idea was should he miss her, they could follow her.

On August 20, 2009, the accused followed the victim who went to Al Salam Hotel along with another person. Winter apparently had noticed that Arnold was following her and had called out to her friend.

Once the victim entered her villa at Al Barsha, the accused followed in and beat her thrice with baseball bat on her head.

Hearing her screams, two neighbours came out and saw 'a man wearing long coat beating the woman who fell on the ground bleeding from the head'.

When they tried helping her, the accused apparently chased them with the bat threatening them until returned to their homes and locked their doors.

However, one of them called the police and the other was watching from the window. The second witness saw the accused dragging the women into her car and drive off. He drove her to the desert, the lawyer told the court, because he did not want anyone helping her and make sure she was dead.

The lawyer also told the court that the two eyewitnesses had filed a complained against Arnold, accusing him of threatening them, and they won the case. If according to claims, had the victim tripped and fallen on the steps and hurt her head, he should have taken her to hospital instead of the desert, the lawyer argued.

The lawyer said that Arnold packed the body in a water-proof bag and put it in a sack with weights placed within and drowned it in sea, so that the body would never surface .

The lawyer added that the accused’s wife, who is separated from him, testified that the accused went to her house at 7.30am and washed a car. This car was later proved to be that of the victim’s where police found traces of her blood in the back seat. The accused went to his work normally and on August 22 the accused travelled to Italy with his new girlfriend Tania as if nothing had happened. This girlfriend, however, did not come back to the UAE.

“The accused had planned and killed the victim, so I request the court to award him the death penalty and adjourn the case for verdict,” Al Jaziri requested the court.

Meanwhile, the defence lawyer asked the court to hear the two affirmative witnesses. The court accepted the request and ordered the prosecution to notify them despite the fact that they have been asked for testimony but never appeared.

The Prosecution will check with the concerned authorities if they are still in the country or not.