'Sexual element' in Saudi prince's servant killing
Bandar Abdulaziz was found beaten and strangled to death in the Landmark Hotel
A Saudi prince murdered his servant in an attack which had a "sexual element", the Old Bailey has heard.
Bandar Abdulaziz, 32, was found beaten and strangled to death in the Landmark Hotel, Marylebone, central London, on 15 February.
The court was told Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud had carried out several assaults on the victim before he died.
Mr al Saud, 34, admits the killing but denies murder and one count of grievous bodily harm with intent.
The jury has been asked to decide whether he is guilty of manslaughter or murder.
When the body was found the prince claimed his aide had been attacked and robbed three weeks before his death.
But the jury was told Mr al-Saud carried out the killing - and injuries including bite marks to Mr Abdulaziz's face showed the "ferocity of the attack to which he had been subjected".
Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said hotel CCTV from 22 January revealed the victim had previously been subjected to a "really nasty assault" by the prince.
'Friends and equals' The court was told the servant was killed "in the privacy of the room he had shared with the defendant and when alone with him".
The prince has claimed he was "friends and equals" with his servant, and denied being gay.
But Mr Laidlaw said: "The evidence establishes quite conclusively that he is either gay or that he has homosexual tendencies.
The court has heard the prince admits killing his servant but denies murder
"It is clear that his abuse of Bandar was not confined simply to physical beatings.
"There is clear evidence, over and above the bite marks, that there was also a sexual element to his mistreatment of the victim.
"The defendant's concealing of the sexual aspect to his abuse of the victim was for altogether more sinister reasons and it tends to suggest that there was a sexual element to the circumstances of the killing."
The court heard that the prince and his aide had been staying together at the hotel since 20 January as part of an "extended holiday".
Mr Abdulaziz's body was found with blood on his pillow in room 312 and the defendant appeared "shocked and upset", the court heard.
Mr al Saud told police officers he had been drinking in the hotel bar until the early hours of the morning before returning to the room and that when he woke at about 1500 GMT he could not rouse the victim.
Bloodstains found in the room were "consistent with the victim having been the subject of a series of separate assaults before he was killed", the jury heard.
Mr al Saud had tried to clean up some of the blood and wash some of Mr Abdulaziz's bloodstained clothing, Mr Laidlaw said.
The case continues.
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