Witnesses in British editor’s murder trial to appear in Dubai court

The lawyer of an Editor-at-Large in Dubai accused of murdering his wife has asked the court to present the medical examiner for questioning among other witnesses.

The British defendant, Francis Matthew, 61, appeared at the Dubai Criminal Court on Wednesday after pleading not guilty last month to the charge of premeditated murder of his wife, Jane, on July 10.

Advocate Ali al-Shamsi requested the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance to present the medical examiner who investigate the crime scene, the arresting officers along with the defendant’s gardener who was working at the house where the defendant and his wife lived.

ALSO READ: British editor appears in Dubai court over wife’s murder, pleads ‘not guilty’

“We want to question the medical examiner who was present at the scene specifically as we see some important points in his report that need to be addressed,” Shamsi told Al Arabiya English after the hearing. “We have also requested for all the witnesses presented by prosecutors to appear before the court for questioning,” he added

The Dubai Public Prosecution last month asked the Dubai Criminal Court to apply the death penalty on Matthew.

According to the prosecution, the 61-year-old editor was arrested on July 4 after he called police to report a break in.

A Lieutenant Colonel told prosecutors that the defendant confessed to committing the crime to the police after finding the victim dead in the bedroom. The officer said that the defendant had detailed that he got in to a series of arguments with the victim during the evening of July 3.

Records show that the defendant told the officer that his wife came to him and started arguing in the living room of the house on the morning of July 4 once again. He said that he left the living room heading to the kitchen where she followed him and started pushing him with both hands.

At this point the officer's testimony states that the victim went to her bedroom and the defendant picked up a hammer and went towards the room where he struck her twice on the head killing her.

The court set the next hearing for November 26 to present witnesses for questioning by defense.