How a Saudi diplomat spent his time with prostitutes
Neil Ozman
her Muslim boyfriend!
Thursday, 3 August, 2000
Prostitute tells court of Saudi diplomat's last hours
By DAVID McLENNAN
Melissa Moussa, charged over the murder of her ex-boyfriend Saudi Arabian
diplomat Abdullah Al-Ghamdi, went shopping for a wedding dress the day after
his death, the ACT Supreme Court heard yesterday.
Moussa, 23, her husband Riza Yilmaz, 29, and Mutlu Yildiz, 26, all of
Sydney, have pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Al-Ghamdi in his Kingston
apartment on October 13, 1998. Moussa has also pleaded not guilty to being
an accessory after the fact.
The court was told Mr Al-Ghamdi spent his last hours drunk, impotent and
with huge mood swings.
A prostitute called "Sabrina", who visited Mr Al-Ghamdi between 11.40pm and
12.40am on the night of his death, said Mr Al-Ghamdi's mood had gone "up and
down, up and down".
He had been happy and enthusiastic when she arrived. But he had become sad
when talking about the woman he loved who had left him, and irritable when
she refused to take part in certain sex acts.
She had been wary of him, but not frightened. She did not have sex with him.
"Upon his request I removed my clothes while he put foreign music on a small
portable stereo. He then removed his robe. He asked me to stand in front of
him and turn around in a full circle, which I did," Sabrina said.
"We got into bed where he continued to hug me. Strangely, he kept pulling
the sheets over our heads and said it reminded him of being Arabian. It was
like being in a tent in the desert. It made me feel claustrophobic and I was
annoyed by it.
"He kept saying, 'Kiss my arse'. When I refused, he became annoyed."
Sabrina said she had been warned by her boss that Mr Al-Ghamdi could be
difficult, but she had encountered worse customers on previous occasions.
The court also heard from the owner of Stephanie's Boutique Lingerie,
Filomena Barilaro, who said Mr Al-Ghamdi was a regular customer at the
Kingston store, and that he made several purchases, usually "inexpensive,
tarty lingerie".
He had embarrassed her by asking her sister to try lingerie on for him.
A friend of Yilmaz's, Recep Dur, told the court he met Moussa in late 1998,
and remembered an evening in which Moussa received 10 to 12 telephone calls
from a man who spoke in Arabic and English.
"You can't get away from me, I'm going to get you in Sydney. You can't run
away from me," the man allegedly said to Moussa.
"Police can't do anything to me. Police can't touch me. If you [do] not come
back here I'm going to kill both of you."
Nurten Dur, who described Yilmaz as an honest, reliable and good person,
said Moussa had gone shopping for a wedding dress with Yilmaz's sister on
Wednesday, October 14.
The trial before Justice Terence Higgins continues today.