Jury retires in trial of hockey coach accused of wife's murder
Mohammed Samak denies killing Joanne Samak.
A jury has retired to consider its verdict in the trial of a hockey coach accused of stabbing his interior designer wife to death.
Mohamed Samak, 42, denies murdering Joanne Samak, 49, claiming he woke up at around 3am on July 1 last year to see her stabbing herself at their home in Chestnut Spinney, Droitwich Spa.
Prosecutors allege that Samak, a former Egyptian international hockey player and coach who worked with the Wales under-18s team, killed his wife because he was suffering financial problems and had become interested in another woman.
Worcester Crown Court had also been told of issues within their 10-year marriage and that they slept in separate bedrooms, with Samak claiming he missed the "romance" in their relationship.
Samak claims his wife took her own life and was struggling with alcohol and mental health problems, although friends and family told the trial they had no concerns about her drinking or her mental state and that she had things to look forward to.
Mrs Samak suffered six stab wounds to the chest and abdomen, with the first wound, to her heart, being the fatal injury.
During the trial, Samak told the jury he was woken up by a scream from his wife and went out on to the landing at their home to see her in the corner stabbing herself.
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.
He told the trial he had lied at first because he "panicked" and feared he would be blamed for her injuries.
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 but he admitted he did not, despite being trained in the procedure and having a first aid kit in his bedroom.
Giving evidence at his trial, Samak said his marriage "wasn't the best" and admitted he had rekindled contact with a woman from France who he had met in 2009 when he worked in entertainment at a hotel in Taba, Egypt - the same place he met Mrs Samak three years later in 2012.
The woman was a guest at the hotel and Samak told the court they developed feelings for each other and kept in touch after she left but contact fizzled out and they did not speak again until the Covid lockdown in 2020.
He admitted they had met up on June 15 last year when the woman visited London for work and had kissed, but said he did not tell his wife because he did not want to upset her.
Prosecution KC Harpreet Sandhu KC said in closing speeches that Samak's account of his wife's death was "illogical" and that he had killed her because he was "trapped in a loveless marriage".
He said: "Here was a man who for years had been stuck in a marriage that was far less happy than he now suggests. He felt trapped and there was nothing he could do to leave the marriage because, from a financial aspect, he couldn't afford to."
During his evidence, Samak said: "Why? Why would I kill my wife? Why would I kill her, why would I not leave? I'm not a killer."