Man pleaded innocence after wife found dead

A MAN accused of murdering his wife pleaded his innocence in hysterical phone calls to her family after her body was discovered in the bath, a court heard.

Yahya Babiker claimed his wife had fallen and hit her head off the taps after she was found in the bath at their Nicolson Street flat in October.

A jury at the High Court in Perth heard yesterday that Babiker had turned up at his in-laws' home in the middle of the night and left his children with a suitcase of clothes.

Edinburgh University student Alla Hassan said Babiker arrived at her home in Niddrie Mains Road at 2am and asked her family to take the children for a week.

She said he explained that his wife Randa Kamblawi was "sleeping" and had "had a tiring day" and felt ill. She said he then left "abruptly" clutching several carrier bags.

Miss Hassan told the court: "He was in a rush to get out. He said she was fine, a bit tired, and that we could speak to her in the morning.

"He was calm and controlled but he did seem a bit distracted and in a rush to leave. The fact that he wasn't panicked meant we didn't think the worst. We thought the worst that happened was that maybe they had an argument or something.

"Everyone was worried so we started to phone the house but there was no answer."

The court heard that Mrs Kamblawi's body was discovered in the flat some time later and Babiker eventually called Miss Hassan, 21, and claimed his wife had fallen in the bath.

Miss Hassan told the jury: "As soon as I answered he was quite hysterical and his opening statement was 'I'm innocent', which he kept repeating frequently.

"I asked why, if he was innocent, he ran away, and what had actually happened. Amongst being hysterical he replied that she fell in the bath tub and she hit her head off the taps.

"Then he said when he saw all the blood he didn't really know what he was doing afterwards. He kept crying and saying 'I'm innocent'."

Miss Hassan said Babiker told her he was "in a state of shock after seeing all the blood" and that his wife had suffered a fall while doing a traditional Sudanese skin treatment.

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

The trial, before Lady Stacey, continues.