The Egyptian Public Prosecution referred the judge accused in the premeditated murder of his wife, broadcaster Shaima Gamal, to a criminal trial on Thursday.
The defendant husband, Ayman Haggag, a senior member of a judicial authority, and Hussein al-Garably, company owner, are being tried in this case.
The Public Prosecutor’s decision stated that Haggag committed premeditated murder to get rid of the victim after she bargained him for money in return for not revealing his secrets.
The Public Prosecutor’s decision stated that the defendants “developed a plan in which they agreed to rent a remote farm to kill her and hide her body in an open grave.
They subsequently bought tools to dig the grave, and used a pistol and a piece of cloth to tighten her killing and paralyze her resistance, as well as chains and iron restrictions to transport the body to the grave after killing her.”
They also used a caustic substance to disintegrate the features of the body before burial.
“On the day they set to undertake their plan, the first accused lured her to a farm, claiming that the purpose of the visit was to inspect it for purchasing later on”.
“The second accused was waiting for him there in accordance to their plan,” the prosecutor said.
“The first accused surprised her with blows to the head with the handle of his pistol, so she lost her balance and fell to the ground: he then crouched over her with his hands and a piece of cloth until he chocked her breath, while the second accused held her to weaken any resistance, intending to kill her, until they were certain of her death,” the prosecutor added.
Then they bound her body with chains, and led it into the grave they had prepared, and poured the caustic material on it to distort its features.
The dead body of journalist and presenter Shaima Gamal, who was killed by her husband, had signs of blows to the head and suffocation in the neck, official sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm earlier.
The postmortem showed signs of blows and suffocation to her body.
Gamal’s body was found buried in a hole on a farm in al-Badrashin, south of Giza in June.
A press statement, issued by the Public Prosecutor, said the prosecution received a report from the husband saying that his wife, Shaima Gamal, has been absent since she disappeared at a commercial complex in the 6 October City, without suspecting anyone.
As prosecutors started the investigation, the second accused came forward and confirmed his close relationship with the victim’s husband, and expressed his desire to make statements that implicated the reporting husband in the murder of his wife due to disagreements between them.
He confirmed that he witnessed the murder and knew where her body was buried. But he then turned to be implicated in the murder.
The Public Prosecution followed the itinerary of the two defendants on the day of the incident and conducted an inspection of the premises.
They also examined a number of e-devices, some of which were intentionally damaged to conceal the information related to the incident.
The prosecutor delegated specialized experts to take measures to retrieve the data on the damaged phones, which supported evidence against them.
