‘I was brainwashed into cleaning up the murder scene’
A delivery driver accused of murdering a millionairess told a court he was ‘brainwashed’ by his friend into cleaning up the scene and lying to the police.
Romanian Mohammed El-Abboud, 24, and Syrian chef Kusai Al-Jundi, 28, are accused of strangling Louise Kam, 71, with the flex of El-Abboud’s hairdryer.
The body was bundled into a rubbish bin at her home in Gallants Farm Road, Barnet, where she had gone to finalise a £6m property deal with the pair.
El-Abboud supervised two delivery men to drive the bin away with other rubbish to Al-Jundi’s home in Wood End Road, Harrow.
He was living at the house in Barnet and claims he was asleep there when Mrs Kam was murdered.
Cross-examining El-Abboud prosecutor Oliver Glasgow, KC, asked why he helped Al-Jundi cover up the murder of Mrs Kam, when he supposedly believed her to be a ‘nice person’ who he would ‘never hurt’.
El-Abboud said: ‘I was obliged to help.’
Mr Glasgow asked: ‘But you knew when you helped and didn’t say anything that he would get away with the murder of someone you liked?’
El-Abboud said: ‘It was something new for me and he brainwashed me.’
When asked what Al-Jundi did to brainwash him, El-Abboud said: ‘He told me that I should shut my mouth, that I should not say anything because he would clear all the mess and he promised me I would not get into trouble with anyone.
‘All I would have to do is shut my mouth.’
El-Abboud admitted he lied to police because he knew he was not responsible for the death of Mrs Kam and believed he would not be implicated.
He claimed he still believed this even after his arrest when he was being questioned at the police station.
El-Abboud said: ‘I didn’t want him to get away with it, but I knew I had nothing to do with it so I shut my mind, because I never thought I would be involved in such things.’
In the time they had known each other, Al-Jundi gave El-Abboud Mrs Kam’s a four-bedroom house to live in, an Audi TT and a job, which El-Abboud confirmed was a better life than he had previously.
He said: ‘I needed someone to help and he was too good to me. He was the only Syrian person I liked because normally I don’t like the Syrians. I thought he was too good for me.’
‘Which is why you killed Louise Kam?’ asked Mr Glasgow.
‘No,’ said El-Abboud.
‘You owed everything to Kusai,’ suggested Mr Glasgow.
‘I wasn’t feeling in debt,’ said El-Abboud.
When asked if Al-Jundi had ever threatened to attack or kill him, El-Abboud said: ‘Not directly…but the way he was looking and how his face was changing, it was obvious.’
Mr Glasgow said: ‘So when you spoke face-to-face, all he had to do was look at you and you were prepared to cover up his murder?’
‘Yes,’ confirmed El-Abboud.
‘You chose to help Kusai Al-Jundi get away with murder, you chose to lie to the police, you chose to lie to the court, you chose to lie to the prosecution, yet at no point did Kusai Al-Jundi threaten you and at no point did he even lay a finger on you?’
‘No,’ said El-Abboud.
‘Did you appreciate that the friends and family of Louise Kam were desperate to know she was alive,’ said Mr Glasgow.
‘Yes,’ said El-Abboud.
‘But you chose to allow that family to remain desperate for news of their loved one?’ said Mr Glasgow.
‘Yes, correct’ said El-Abboud.
When suggesting that he was seemingly in the ‘wrong state of mind’ as well as behaving normally, Mr Glasgow asked El-Abboud: ‘Are you normal or have you lost your mind?’
‘What should I say?’ replied El-Abboud.
‘The truth would be a good start,’ said Mr Glasgow.
Al-Jundi had befriended El-Abboud when he came to London from Coventry and gave him a job as a delivery driver, use of the Audi TT he had swindled from another woman and accommodation at Mrs Kam’s home.
The chef, of Wood End Road, Harrow, and El-Abboud, whose last address was Gallants Farm Road, Barnet, both deny Ms Kam’s murder.
Al-Jundi has chosen not to give evidence.
The trial continues.
