Siblings on trial for murdering lord for money
Jamila M’Barek, 45, appeared before the court in Nice charged with accessory to murder, alongside her brother, Mohammed M’Barek, 43, who is accused of murdering Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 10th Earl of Shaftesbury.
“I loved this man,” Jamila M’Barek told the court, pleading innocence. “He brought me peace. He was for me a lover and a father.”
The body of the 66-year-old lord was found in a public dump in April 2005, five months after he vanished from his home in Cannes.
Prosecutors say Ms M’Barek, a Dutch-Tunisian former nightclub hostess who married the lord in 2002, had feared an impending divorce would threaten her lifestyle as well as inheritance and had persuaded her brother to strangle her husband.
Mr M’Barek — who was extradited from Germany in 2005 — initially denied involvement, but later told police he accidentally strangled the lord during an argument.
“I am innocent. My sister is innocent,” Mr M’Barek told journalists who were given permission by the judge to film the defendants before the opening of the trial. “It was just an accident,” he said.
At the time of his death, he had been living apart from Ms M’Barek, who was his third wife.
Mr Ashley-Cooper was last seen on November 6, 2004, walking out of a Cannes hotel where he had spent the night. His body was found in Theoule-sur-Mer, south of Cannes five months later in April 2005.
A verdict is expected on Friday.
