The man convicted of murdering British teacher Lauren Patterson in Qatar two years ago has accused prosecutors of tampering with video evidence shown during his trial, local media reported.
Badr Hashim Khamis Abdallah Al Jabar claimed a video previously shown in a 2014 court hearing and purporting to show the defendant confessing to stabbing 24-year-old Patterson in self defence during a struggle was selectively edited by prosecutors.
Doha News reported that Al Jabar claimed during an appeal hearing on Sunday that the video shown in court was only one of multiple enactments filmed at the time.
He said the one chosen to be shown in court during his trial depicted only the prosecutors’ version of events, and not his own.
“The video is not the same!” he shouted angrily in court this week. “I swear by God it isn’t the same. If you’re a Muslim, put your hand on the Quran and swear by it that it’s the same video (and not edited).”
Qatari national Al Jabar was convicted of murdering Patterson and sentenced to death in 2014. The Court of Appeal upheld the verdict a year later.
However, in February this year, Qatar’s highest court overturned the ruling, requiring a new trial to take place at the Court of Appeal.
During the third hearing in Al Jabar’s retrial on Sunday, the defendant’s lawyer attempted to cast doubt on the validity of statements his client gave to police.
The lawyer claimed that Al Jabar had been held in solitary confinement for 23 days before he confessed to the murder and had been “coerced” into giving the confession.
“[Solitary confinement] was punishment and coercion enough for the defendant to say anything the prosecutor wanted,” the lawyer told the court.
Patterson, who worked for Newton British School in Doha, disappeared in October 2013 following a night out. Her body, which had been burnt, was later found by a falconer in a remote area of Qatar.
The trial is set to resume on October 9.
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