A Saudi prince today faces a life sentence for beating and strangling his servant to death in the culmination of a campaign of “sadistic” abuse.
Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud was found guilty at London's Old Bailey of murdering Bandar Abdulaziz in a “brutal” assault at their five-star hotel suite in the city.
The prince was fuelled by champagne and ‘sex on the beach’ cocktails when he bit the 32-year-old hard on both cheeks during the attack in February.
They had just returned from a Valentine’s Day night out when Saud launched the ferocious assault.
When he was arrested he at first wrongly believed he had diplomatic immunity.
Saud (34), a member of one of the world’s richest and most powerful dynasties, was found guilty of murder today by the jury after just one hour and 35 minutes of deliberation. He showed no reaction as the decision was announced.
Saud, who will be sentenced on Wednesday, had admitted manslaughter but denied murder.
The servant had spent the previous three years travelling as an occasional companion of the prince, whose father is a nephew of the Saudi king and whose mother is a daughter of the king. The pair were believed to be having some kind of sexual relationship, the court had heard.
He had suffered "a series of heavy punches or blows to his head and face", leaving his left eye closed and swollen, his lips split open and his teeth chipped and broken, prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw said.
There also were injuries to his ears and internal bruising and bleeding to the brain, as well as severe injuries to the neck consistent with manual compression, the court was told.
It was not the first time the victim had been subjected to beatings. Closed-circuit TV cameras had caught Mr Abdulaziz being hit by the defendant in the hotel lift on January 22nd and February 5th and outside a restaurant on the night leading up to his death, Mr Laidlaw said.
Saud said he and his servant were "friends and equals" and that he was heterosexual, jurors were told.
But Mr Laidlaw said:" The evidence establishes quite conclusively that he is either gay or that he has homosexual tendencies."
Reuters