The Dubai Prosecution and the victim’s family have appealed the First Instance Court verdict of a 15-year jail term awarded to Briton Mark Arnold for the murder of his South African ex-girlfriend Kerry Winter, 36.
Defence lawyers told Emirates 24|7 that prosecutors and the family are seeking the execution of Arnold, 43, a company director, on the charge of premeditated murder. At today's hearing the family applied for 'blood guardian' status, which would give them the right to accept or reject the death penalty if it were imposed. Arnold’s defence lawyer, Yousuf Khalifa Hammad, has appealed the verdict asking for an acquittal
The First Instance Court, which awarded its verdict on June 7, had also ordered deportation after Arnold served his jail term, and transferred the civil case filed by the victim’s brother to the Civil Court.
The lawyer for the victim’s family, Hussain Al Jaziri, today submitted to the Appeal Court a memorandum requesting execution, insisting that the rights of the victim’s family should be upheld over the accused's civil rights.
The Court ordered Al Jaziri to give Hammad a copy of the memorandum to prepare his defence, and adjourned the case until August 8.
According to the June 7 verdict, Arnold was found guilty of premeditated murder based on his confession, witnesses’ testimonies and forensic reports.
Arnold had confessed before the Prosecution that he had hit Winter on the head with a baseball bat, wrapped her body in a blanket and drowned her with weights in the sea. A DNA report proved that Arnold’s car had been stained with the victim’s blood, despite being cleaned.
Arnold confessed that the couple had broken up, as he had sought a relationship with another woman.
Prosecution documents allege that in August 2008, Arnold met Winter in the Al Salam Hotel. He wanted to take advantage of her being drunk and to ask her to remain friends. The couple argued, and she then left the hotel.
The documents say Arnold then followed her in his car to her Al Barsha house, where neighbours heard the couple fighting and later saw the victim lying bleeding on the ground outside her house and called the police. One neighbour testified that he saw Arnold beating her on her head with a baseball bat.
After allegedly hitting her over the head three times with the baseball bat, Arnold then took her to the desert and wrapped her body in cloth sacks. The documents allege he then carried her to his boat and drowned her body with weights in the sea. Winter’s body has never been found.
Defence lawyer Hammad has denied the confession and told the court that Arnold had made it under duress. Hammad claims that Winter injured herself when she fell drunk from her marble stairs and that the neighbour did not see Arnold beating her.
Arnold attended the hearings where he denied the accusation and asked for an acquittal in weak Arabic.
Arnold, who is married with a son, had a five-year relationship with Winter. Winter’s mother told the BBC that her daughter had broken up with Arnold in May 2008, three months before she went missing and had been harassed by Arnold since the break-up.
Winter was last heard from on August 20, 2008 when she phoned her friend, Jo Brown, to say that Arnold had followed her to a hotel, according to a BBC report.
Arnold’s wife told the BCC that she wished the sentence had been stiffer, describing it as "disappointing" and "too lenient". She also said the family would be speaking to prosecutors to try to get the sentence increased on appeal.
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