A FORMER Hockey coach accused of stabbing his wife to death in bed after he began seeing another woman claimed she took her own life, a court heard.
Mohamed Samak, 42, has denied killing Joanne Samak, 49, at their home in Droitwich Spa in the early hours of July 1, 2024.
Mohammed Samak, 42, denies killing his wife Joanne Samak, 49[/caption]
Joanne was found dead in the early hours of July 2024[/caption]
Mohamed waited for more than an hour before calling 999 for Joanne[/caption]
The Egyptian sportsman was arrested by West Mercia Police after his alleged victim was found at the address with what police described as unsurvivable injuries.
He claims his wife stabbed herself in the stomach and chest after struggling with her mental health and alcohol, drinking two bottles of wine four times a week.
But prosecutors said Samak was seeking to characterise his wife as “an out-of-control alcoholic in order to bolster his account that Joanne took her own life”.
He waited for more than an hour before calling 999 and then “did nothing” to help his dying wife before telling a “pack of lies” about what had happened, the court heard.
Opening a trial at Worcester Crown Court on Tuesday, lead prosecutor Mr Harpreet Sandhu KC told the jury that Samak killed his wife after becoming interested in another woman and experiencing financial difficulties.
Samak previously worked for £57,000-a-year public school Malvern College.
The prosecutor said Samak, who was a hockey coach who had previously worked with the under-18 Welsh national team, had “kept an eye” on his status as an alleged beneficiary of Joanne’s life insurance policy and pension.
Joanne, who was to have begun working at her new interior design business on the day of her death, was said to be the “breadwinner” of the household.
Defendant Samak had been seeking the assistance of financial advisers while struggling with his mental health, the court was told.
Mr Sandhu told the jury that Samak had killed his wife, but lied to police by claiming she had instead “stabbed herself repeatedly” before he found her slumped on a bed with a knife in her stomach.
The defendant alleged he had found Joanne, who slept in a separate bedroom from her husband, at about 4.10am after he woke to use the toilet, and immediately phoned 999.
But Mr Sandhu, who said a post-mortem examination found six stab wounds on Joanne, including one to the chest, accused the defendant of later changing his account “to fit the evidence”.
During a police interview, Samak was told neighbours had claimed to have heard screaming at about 3am.
He told officers he was awoken by a noise coming from the bathroom at about the same time.
Samak allegedly looked out from his bedroom, saw Joanne holding a knife, screaming and “trying to stab herself”, the court was told.
When he tried to help her, he said she went into the bedroom and continued to stab herself before landing on the bed.
He claimed to have waited an hour before calling the emergency services because he was crying and “struggling to breathe”.
‘HAPPY AND LOVED’
The court heard that Samak, who moved to the UK after marrying Joanne in 2014, claimed his wife was struggling with her mental health and alcohol at the time of her death.
But friends and family, including her brother, Mark Vale, who gave evidence on Tuesday, denied this and said “she was happy” and “loved her work” as an interior designer.
She was also said to be “excited” about her new business venture and was planning a party and trip to Paris for her upcoming 50th birthday.
Mr Sandhu said: “The police spoke to over 30 of Joanne’s family, friends and colleagues. The police also spoke to the defendant, Mohammed Samak.
“Of all those people, Mohammed Samak was the only person who suggested that Joanne showed signs of instability so that she might take her own life.”
Mr Sandhu told jurors that on a night out with friends shortly before her death, Joanne had spoken about the “difficulties” in her marriage.
“She said she did not love him and would divorce him if she could but believed he ‘would not survive’ in the UK without her,” he told the court.
Jurors were told Samak had also been in contact with a woman called Fadila Fadou.
Mr Sandhu said that from messages the pair exchanged it was clear “he had feelings for her and he envisaged some sort of future relationship with her”.
The court heard that in May last year, the pair met in London for dinner after Samak “somewhat ironically” got his wife to sort out his parking for him.
Messages sent afterwards suggested they had “kissed or at the very least come very close to kissing each other” while further messages indicated he had said he was not happy in his marriage.
STABBING HORROR
Joanne suffered six stab wounds and died as a result of a wound to her chest.
Samak claimed to have moved her to perform CPR but police officers who arrived at the scene noticed he had no blood on his hands while paramedics deduced she had been dead for some time.
Mr Sandhu said that while on the phone to the emergency services Samak was asked if his wife had stabbed herself.
He said: “That is not a difficult question. In response to that he said this ‘I think so, I think so’.
“If it really were that Joanne had stabbed herself, it should have been a very clear ‘yes she did”.
“There were reasons why he was not being clear. He knew that Joanne had not stabbed herself and he could not bring himself to say that he had stabbed her.’
“The reality is that he defendant did nothing to help Joanne… you see the defendant already knew that Joanne was dead because he had stabbed over an hour before he had made the call to 999 and he knew any attempts to try to resuscitate Joanne were going to be futile.
“This was not a man overcome by emotion following the death of his wife but a man who was thinking carefully about what he was going to say and why he was going to say it.
“By the time he called emergency services in truth there was nothing they could do…”
Prosecutors said: “On the one hand, (there is) a woman who had everything to live for, a woman who had made lots of future plans that decided to take her own life.
“Alternatively, her husband, who was interested in another woman, had financial concerns and had an eye on what he might get if she died, killed her.”
The trial continues.
