CCTV 'shows accused buying weapon to murder wife'

A JURY was told today they had seen "very damning" evidence on CCTV of a husband buying the weapon he used to brutally murder his wife.

In his closing speech, Advocate Depute Pino di Medio said there was clear evidence to convict Yahya Babiker of the murder of his wife Randa Kamblawi in Edinburgh last October.

He told the High Court in Perth that the evidence showed Babiker had murdered his wife with a claw hammer which had been purchased in Homebase only hours earlier.

He said CCTV footage in Homebase showed Babiker weighing up a crowbar before buying a 3.99 claw hammer from the Homebase Value range.

Mr di Medio said further CCTV footage showed Babiker returning to the flat a short time later before leaving with the couple's children in the early hours of the following morning. He was also seen taking money from a bank and getting a taxi to Edinburgh Airport.

"The CCTV clips allow us to trace, to some extent, what Yahya Babiker did from the 19th to the 21st of October 2009. The Monday afternoon clip shows him within Homebase.

"The Crown says it is a very damning piece of evidence. You have seen the murder weapon being selected. It might be thought to be an unforgettable piece of evidence."

The trial heard how the 34-year-old mother-of-two's body was found wrapped up in bedding and dumped in a blood soaked bath at her home in Nicolson Street, Edinburgh.

"The forensic investigations point to the conclusion that the attack on Randa Kamblawi occurred in the bedroom and not in the bathroom. At least one impact into wet blood occurred in the master bedroom.

"It is the Crown's position that Yahya Babiker took Randa Kamblawi's body into the bathroom and dumped her body in the bath. He also dumped the bedding from the master bedroom on top of the deceased.

"She was subjected to a violent, lethal attack," Mr di Medio said. "There were at least five blows. We know Yahya Babiker did not seek any help from emergency services when his wife suffered these injuries.

"He has attempted to clean up. That must have taken some considerable time. The case is compelling. There is enough in the Crown evidence to make the inference that it was his intention to murder her.

"The accused's description of two alleged falls in the bath cannot explain injuries one, two, three, four and five. The more likely scenario is that all five injuries were caused by the accused using the hammer in the master bedroom."

Babiker denies murdering his wife by repeatedly hitting her with a claw hammer and claimed to police that she had slipped in the bath and hit her head on the taps twice.

Defence counsel, Bert Kerrigan QC, asked the jury to consider returning either a not proven or culpable homicide verdict instead of finding Babiker guilty of murder.

He said the evidence the Crown presented relating to the claw hammer was not enough for the jury to convict his client of murder.

"There is no doubt that he bought a hammer. There seems to be no doubt from the medical evidence that an object similar to a hammer was used, once or more than once.

"Something went wrong that night. He didn't call for assistance. He didn't admit what had happened. There is a huge dilemma in this case for a jury," Mr Kerrigan said.

"In my submission, the evidence does not justify the inference the Crown seeks to draw from the purchase of the hammer on the afternoon."

He said friends who had spent time with the couple during the weekend before the body was found did not report any "trouble or disharmony" between them.

Yahya Babiker, 45, a prisoner at HMP Edinburgh, denies murdering Randa Kamblawi, 34, by repeatedly hitting her with a claw hammer at her home at 10/4 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh, on 19 or 20 October last year.

Lady Stacey told the jury she would send them out to consider their verdict tomorrow morning after completing her address to them.