Rottingdean Murder Trial

14 April 2010, 17:22

The trial of a man's who denies murdering his mother-in-law Pauline Knowles-Samarraie in Rottingdean in April 2009 has started at Lewes Crown Court.

 

 

 

Here is the latest from our Court Reporter

 

An East Sussex woman, who had a book published about her experiences living in Iraq under Saddam Hussein's regime, was battered to death and then set alight by her son-in-law, a court heard.

41 year old Mohammad Soboh from Brighton, denies murdering Pauline Knowles-Samarraie, 72, whose body was found by firefighters at the home they shared in Grand Crescent, Rottingdean, on April 22 last year.

Opening the case at Lewes Crown Court, prosecutor Alan Kent QC told jurors the case ``has a number of elements to it which I suspect you will find quite fascinating''. He said that although Soboh was at the time married to the woman's daughter,Nada, he had once been married to Ms Knowles-Samarraie herself. The court heard that Ms Knowles-Samarraie met her first husband, an Iraqi national, when he was studying in the UK in the late 1950s, and then moved to the Middle East with him when he was made deputy oil minister under Saddam's regime. They had two children, Nada and Paul, but Paul and her husband were later executed, while the two women escaped to the UK.

Mr Kent said that in 2007 Ms Knowles-Samarraie had a book published about her experiences under the dictatorship, entitled I Never Said Goodbye. However, he added that despite this she remained a ``secretive'' woman, and did not share her unusual domestic arrangement with her friends. Soboh is alleged to have repeatedly struck her over the head with a metallintel and then poured accelerant over her body before setting her alight in a bid to cover his tracks while his wife and their three children were out for the day.

Jurors were shown a transcript of a 999 call made by Soboh at 1.25pm on April 22. In it he said he had found Ms Knowles-Samarraie alight in the kitchen but he was unable to reach her.

Ms Knowles-Samarraie was pronounced dead at the scene while Soboh was taken to hospital where he was treated for the effects of smoke inhalation. A police officer stayed with him and when he was discharged at around 6pm he was arrested on suspicion of Ms Knowles-Samarraie's murder.

Results from a post-mortem examination showed she died as a result of head wounds caused by a blunt instrument.

The trial was adjourned until 10.30am on Thursday.