Kuwait Politics, Issue No. 12341 – 02-04-2003
Case
The Court of Cassation upheld the acquittal of the Filipino defendants accused of killing the Canadian, Ether.
Yesterday, the Court of Cassation, presided over by Justice Kazem Al-Mazeedi, upheld the Court of Appeal’s ruling acquitting six Filipinos and a citizen who were accused of intentionally and premeditatedly killing the Canadian citizen Luke Ether, in addition to charges of complicity in the crime, possession and use of a weapon in a residential area, adultery, and giving false statements.
The Court of First Instance had sentenced the first defendant (Teody) to life imprisonment, acquitted the second defendant (Jaime), and sentenced the third defendant, the Canadian’s wife Mary (Jane), to three years in prison for filing a false report against the citizen (Majid Al-Mutairi), while acquitting her of the charge of complicity in her husband’s murder and ordering her deportation after serving the sentence. The fourth defendant (Noreza) was sentenced to two years for concealing information and failing to report a crime before its occurrence, and was deported; the fifth defendant (Rosalie) was acquitted; the sixth (Lourdos) was sentenced to three months and deported; and the seventh (the citizen) was fined two thousand dinars. With this, the three-tiered court proceedings concluded the trial of the six Filipino defendants accused of killing the Canadian Luke Ether.
The defense of the first defendant, Attorney Khalid Al-Shatti, stated to Al-Siyasah that “we were confident in the acquittal of our client (Teody) since the beginning of the Public Prosecution investigations, and the Kuwaiti public, with its discernment, can see the traces of the real perpetrators of this heinous act. We urge the Ministry of Interior to strive to apprehend the true culprits so that the blood of this Canadian resident, whose money, honor, and life were entrusted to us, is not wasted.”
He added, “I can only bow in reverence and respect to the pinnacle of the Kuwaiti judiciary for issuing this ruling, which has added a diamond to the necklace of justice.”