OUR LATEST ISSUE
SITE SEARCH
Gay news: A Saudi prince killed his servant in a murder of "ferocity" which had a sexual element, a court at the Old Bailey has heard.
By: Nigel Robinson
Landmark Hotel where the men stayed
Landmark Hotel where the men stayed
"Gay" Saudi prince killed his servant, court told
5 October 2010
Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud, 34, a distant relative of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, had previously submitted Bandar Abdulaziz 32, to physical assaults and mistreatments, the court was told.
Abdulaziz’s body was found on 15 February in the London hotel room in which the two men were staying. He had been beaten and strangled, his teeth had been broken and bones in his neck had been fractured.
A series of injuries which included bite marks to Abdulaziz’s cheeks revealed the “ferocity of the attack to which he had been subjected”, a jury was told.
The Prince had earlier said that his servant had been attacked and robbed in Edgware Road three weeks before his death.
However CCTV footage in the lift at the Landmark hotel where they were staying showed the Prince subjecting to Abdulaziz to a “really nasty assault” on 22 January, said Jonathan Laidlaw QC for the prosecution.
It was clear that Abdulaziz had been killed in the privacy of the five-star hotel bedroom which the two men shared, he told the court.
Despite the Prince claims that he and Abdulaziz were “friends and equals” and that he was heterosexual, Mr Friedland said the evidence proved conclusively that he was gay or had homosexual tendencies.
“It is clear that his abuse of Bandar was not confined simply to physical beatings,” he continued.
“There is clear evidence, over and above the bite marks that there was also a sexual element to the mistreatment of the victim.”
A search of the Prince’s lap top revealed that he had visited gay escort websites.
Mr Laidlaw said that the Prince admits to killing Abdulaziz, and that it would be up to the jury to decide if he were guilty of murder or of manslaughter.
The case continues.
