The decision to put alternative therapist Christopher Newman (63) on trial for the murder of his assistant, Georgina Eager (28), rather than charging him with manslaughter may have been influenced by public feeling in Ireland, Inner London Crown Court was told yesterday.
Defence counsel Andrew Smiler was addressing the jury on behalf of the defendant, also known as "Professor Saph Dean", who ran an alternative medicine clinic in Walkinstown, Dublin, and is charged with the murder of Ms Eager in her flat, next door to the clinic, on May 22nd, 2003.
Mr Newman is a British citizen of Indian origin. It is common ground that he stabbed Ms Eager to death but he is pleading self-defence and provocation. He went to London after the killing where he was arrested. UK legislation dating back to the 19th century permits British citizens to be tried in Britain for crimes allegedly committed in Ireland.
In his closing speech, Mr Smiler said there was "compelling" evidence from two pathologists, including Dr Marie Cassidy, that the frontal wounds suffered by Ms Eager were characteristic of a "frenzied attack" by Mr Newman.
"It cannot have been planned because that would not have been frenzied. Frenzied, by definition, is when you have lost control and he had clearly lost control."
Mr Smiler asked why a manslaughter charge had not been brought instead of a charge of murder, when there was "abundant evidence" that the defendant lost control. He added that, although most of the press coverage in Ireland had been accurate, some of it was "fictitious and scandalous".
He pointed out that Ms Liz McManus TD, "who I believe is deputy leader of the Irish Labour Party", had "very properly" attended the trial to support the Eager family who lived in her constituency. The Irish Embassy had also sent an observer.
Public feeling about the case was "very high" in Ireland. "Decisions taken about matters of justice against a background of strong public feeling and emotion sometimes are not good decisions." In such an atmosphere, the decision about this prosecution was not a good one. "Why this man was not charged with manslaughter is an eternal mystery," Mr Smiler continued.
Much had been made of Mr Newman's inability to recall the details of the killing but "if he is hiding anything from anybody, he is hiding it from himself".
The defendant was unable to come to terms with what he had done: "You would have to be cold and callous not to understand that." Turning to the victim's character, Mr Smiler said: "Georgina wasn't a bad girl and I can't say that too many times. Like all people she had her good points and her bad points." He displayed pages from a private notebook written in the late 1990s, in which the victim allegedly wrote about cheating on a boyfriend and taking ecstasy tablets.
Counsel played part of a video taken with the defendant's secret camera which showed Mr Newman, apparently naked, talking at length to Ms Eager, who was wearing clothes. He also played part of another video, previously shown during the trial, where Ms Eager was massaging the leg of a patient at the clinic who was sexually aroused.
Attacking the prosecution's case, Mr Smiler said: "They took Mr Newman's life apart and they found nothing."
He read a news report from the London Times about the support Prince Charles was giving to alternative medicine. But the prosecution had dismissed the value of such treatment and depicted Mr Newman as a charlatan, Mr Smiler said. The trial continues on Monday.