The lawyer of Francis Matthew, the British journalist and former editor of the Gulf News serving 10 years for assault which led to the death of his wife, has sought to have the sentence reduced at the Dubai Appeal Court.
Ali Abdullah Al Shamsi has requested that judge Eisa Al Sharif reduce the punishment, which was handed down following the trial in March 2018, to the minimum term of three months, which he claims is consistent with articles 97 and 98 of the Penal Law.
He maintains that his client didn’t intend to cause wife’s death and was instead “gripped by a sudden fit of intense outrage triggered by relentless provocation from his wife”.
In July 2017, a domestic dispute at their villa in Umm Suqeim culminated in Matthew striking his wife Jane, causing fatal injuries to the head. During the trial, the court amended the prosecutors’ charge of premeditated murder to beating that led to death, the crime for which Matthew was ultimately found guilty.
The family of Jane Matthew have gone on the record to state their dissatisfaction with both the verdict and the defendant’s appeals, claiming that justice has not been served.
The Appeal Court ruling is expected on October 7.
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