Murder accused lied to 999 call handler ‘over worries he would be blamed’
Mohamed Samak told a jury he saw his wife Joanne stabbing herself, but ‘lied’ to a 999 call handler and said he found her slumped on her bed.
A husband accused of murder who says he witnessed his wife stabbing herself lied to an emergency call handler because he was worried he was going to be blamed for her death, a court has heard.
Mohamed Samak, 42, told a murder trial at Worcester Crown Court on Friday that he was woken up at around 3am on July 1 last year by a scream from his wife Joanne Samak, 49, and went out onto the landing at their home in Chestnut Spinney, Droitwich Spa, to see her stabbing herself six times.
But when he called the emergency services at 4.10am, more than an hour after the incident, he told the call handler he had gone to the bathroom and decided to check on his wife, who slept in a separate bedroom, and found her slumped on the bed with a knife in her stomach.
The call handler asked Samak if Joanne had stabbed herself, to which he replied: “I think so.”
Asked by defence barrister John Jones KC why he had not told the operator that he had seen his wife stabbing herself, Samak said: “I tried to cover it because I was worried that I was going to take the blame for it and I panicked.”
The hockey coach and former Egyptian international player cried when he was asked by Mr Jones if he had killed his wife.
“How, why? Why would I kill my wife? Why would I kill her, why would I not leave? I’m not a killer,” he responded.
During his evidence-in-chief, Samak told the jury that after hearing a loud “pain” noise, he woke up and saw Joanne in the corner of the landing near the bathroom.
Explaining his version of events, he said: “I went straight outside (the bedroom). I didn’t see at that time, but she was facing the wall and I could see her side, I said: ‘Jo, are you OK?’
“I went straight to her. She was in the corner leaning over with her upper body.
“She turned and when she turned, I saw a knife in her hand and straight away I said: ‘What are you doing?’
“She was in a hurry, she said: ‘Leave me alone, I don’t need any help.’ She went into her room, I went after her.
“I didn’t know what was going on. It was the middle of the night. Everything just happened in seconds, she went next to the bedside and she was going backwards and forwards with the knife in her body.
“I tried to stop her. I didn’t really know what was going on. She was screaming while she was going in the room, I tried to stop her, I tried to catch her, it all happened in seconds.
“My brain was just, I couldn’t really think of anything, it was a shock. I never ever thought that one day I would witness something like that in my life.”
Samak said he was in shock and “crying and shivering” on the floor after the incident and when he finally called 999, the call handler told him to start CPR.
Asked by his barrister if he did do CPR, Samak said: “No I didn’t. Jo wasn’t breathing, she was blue and I was scared to touch the blood.
“It was too many things, I didn’t know whether to move her shirt, the blood was in the middle of her chest.
“I was panicking, I wanted to do it but I don’t know, the blood. I wanted to do it but I didn’t really know what to do.
“I was shaking and panicking, I put my hands together and I was trying to avoid touching the blood. I did CPR but not proper CPR because I was trying to avoid the blood.
“My hands wasn’t in the position where the CPR should be done because the cut and the blood was there.”
He told the court he hoped that the emergency services would “bring her back to life” and body-worn camera footage from police officers at the scene captured him saying he didn’t know why his wife had died.
Mr Jones said: “Of course you did know – according to you, she killed herself. Why didn’t you say that to the police?”
Samak replied: “My English understanding and English speaking is limited. Witnessing and seeing my wife killing herself and I don’t know the reason why.
“I myself don’t know why and emotionally and mentally I was all over the place and witnessing seeing my wife killing herself in front of me in the middle of the night. I did lie, I am a liar.”
He also claimed his wife had said: “I’ve had enough of this life” before she went to sleep the night before she died.
The trial continues.
