April 16, 2010 - The Daily Star - DUBAI The family of a missing South African woman

DUBAI: The family of a missing South African woman claimed killed by her British ex-lover in Dubai has slammed as “fictitious” defense claims that she has faked her death to frame her former partner.
“Fictitious information and baseless allegations,” said the family of Kerry Winter in a statement released on Thursday by its lawyer Hussain al-Jaziri, in response to charges made by the defense team of Mark Arnold in court on Monday.
Winter, 36, had disappeared in August 2008 after a quarrel with Arnold, 42. The prosecution charged him with clubbing her to death with a baseball bat and dumping her body in the sea with weights attached.
Winter’s corpse has never been found.
Arnold’s defense has reportedly told the court that Winter has faked her death to punish her former partner for ending their relationship, dismissing the alleged act as “just a woman’s revenge.”
His lawyer also said a policeman spoke to Winter on her mobile phone three hours after an argument between the two and claimed she said she was fine.
“This argument represents not only a misleading set of statements but a fictitious story that defames the family of the victim to add to their ongoing ordeal,” Winter’s family statement said.
“Such an outrageous allegation formulates an undisputable contradiction to the evidence available before the court,” it added.
Earlier reports said Arnold told investigators he had argued with Winter and hit her on the head with a wooden stick until she bled and fell to the ground.
He has been in custody since August 2008 and had received a one-month jail sentence over endangering the life of a Lebanese housemate of Winter by swinging a baseball bat at him when he was alerted to the argument between the two outside her villa.
The court decided to keep Arnold in custody since then. A verdict is expected on May 17, according to Jaziri.
Murder is a capital crime in the United Arab Emirates but the death sentence is rarely carried out. – AFP