A former top public school hockey coach who claimed to have performed CPR on his wife after she suffered knife wounds to her chest had no trace of blood on his hands, a jury heard today.
Mohamed Samak, 42, had both his hands swabbed by police after being arrested on suspicion of murdering Joanne Samak at their home in the early hours of July 1 last year.
Egyptian Samak, who previously worked for Malvern College, is accused of killing the interior designer after the couple ‘drifted apart’ and he struggled to find work.
Giving evidence today, forensic scientist Lucy Bryan confirmed that no blood was detected on either hand.
Ms Bryan had examined a blood-stained vest and t-shirt worn by the victim at the time of her death.
These had at least two tears caused by ‘a thrusting, stabbing action’, Worcester Crown Court heard.
Mrs Bryan also found blood stains on three areas of the Crocs clogs worn by Samak. She said these were transferred to his shoe via the air.
The jury heard seven interviews conducted by the police in the three days following Samak’s arrest. Detectives accused him of lying to them and the 999 call handler about the circumstances of the death.
Mohamed Samak, 42, had both his hands swabbed by police after being arrested on suspicion of murdering Joanne Samak at their home (Pictured: The couple together)
Giving evidence today, forensic scientist Lucy Bryan confirmed that no blood was detected on either hand (Pictured: Police and forensics at the scene)
In his first and second interviews, Samak – a former Egyptian hockey international who was a member of the England over-40s squad – claimed to have found his wife dead when he got up to use the bathroom at their semi-detached house in Droitwich, Worcestershire.
He then changed his story to say that he had found the 49-year-old in the act of stabbing herself.
He was then confronted by the fact that neighbours had been woken by screams from a female shortly after 3am but he did not call emergency services until 4.10am.
Detectives accused him of using the hour to work out how to cover up his crime.
Accounting for the missing hour, Samak, who was known as Sam, told investigators he couldn’t control himself ‘or do anything’.
He added: ‘I was just crying….I did not know if I should ring Jo’s mother or her brother for help.’
At one point he told detectives he went and lay down on a bed and had flashbacks to ‘everything we have done together, when we met, what we had done.’
When he finally called the emergency services he told them that his wife was no longer breathing and they suggested he perform CPR.
In his first and second interviews, Samak claimed to have found his wife dead when he got up to use the bathroom at their semi-detached house in Droitwich, Worcestershire
He then changed his story to say that he had found the 49-year-old in the act of stabbing herself (Pictured: Police and forensics at the scene)
He told detectives that as someone who worked as a coach, a lifeguard and a personal trainer, he was qualified in First Aid and knew how to do CPR.
During interview, police accused him of making noises on the 999 call which imitated CPR while not actually doing it.
In an earlier interview, the defendant cried when detectives told him that his wife would divorce him if she could.
The court heard Mrs Samak had confided her thoughts in friends she went out for drinks with less than 48 hours before her death.
Hearing how Samak had crashed their car, meaning cash from a redundancy payout which Mrs Samak had planned to spend on a holiday to Samak’s homeland would instead have to go on vehicle repairs, her friend Rachel Healey said: ‘You must adore him.’
But Mrs Samak, who had recently launched a new company with colleagues from her old firm, said: ‘No, I don’t adore him. I would divorce him if I could.’
She added: ‘He would never survive in the UK without me.’
The couple had met while Mrs Samak was on holiday in Egypt in 2011 and he was working at the hotel where she stayed.
They married in 2015 and Samak landed a job coaching hockey at prestigious Malvern College which lasted 18 months.
Samak 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 he was instead seeking to characterise his wife as ‘an out-of-control alcoholic in order to bolster his account that Joanne took her own life’.
Jurors have been told he was experiencing financial difficulties and ‘had feelings’ for a former female acquaintance with whom he had reconnected.
They have also heard Mrs Samak was excitedly planning her 50th birthday celebrations, including a trip to Paris with her best friend.
Samak denies murder.
The trial continues.
