LONDON // Thomas Efremi denied there was a “plot” to burgle a London hotel and insisted he had not known Philip Spence was carrying his hammer the night of the brutal attack on three Emirati sisters.
Spence, 33, attacked his victims Khuloud Al Najjar, 36, and her sisters Ohoud, 34, and Fatima, 31, with a claw hammer as their children lay sleeping at the plush Cumberland Hotel, near Marble Arch, central London. They all suffered fractured skulls.
Efremi, who has admitted a charge of fraud but denies conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary, in tandem with Spence, was giving evidence for the first time at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday after being taken ill the previous day.
“You say you didn’t know he had it [the hammer] with him that night,” asked prosecutor Simon Mayo QC.
“No,” was Efremi’s response.
“I suggest you did, but in any event if he had that hammer with him you must have realised the risk that he would use that hammer if he was interrupted during the course of a burglary,”said Mr Mayo
“That’s assuming I knew he had it,” replied Efremi. “If you didn’t know his previous [convictions], no, since when is it an offence for a neighbour or a friend to borrow a tool? Why should you presume that they are going to commit an offence with it?
“I did not know that his temper was that bad, I have seen him get upset a couple of times, shouted at him and then he had behaved himself,” he said.
“If he had told me what he had done I would have knocked him out straight away.
“You believe what you want to believe, I know the truth in my heart and in my soul, I know the truth.
“There was no bargain, there was no plan, there was no plot.”
Efremi protested he had no knowledge of the savage attacks until his arrest two days later on April 8.
Spence blamed Efremi for the brutal hammer assaults, telling the police “the only person you should hold is Tom, yeah”.
“I knew nothing about being accused of it, being set up for it which is what he tried to do,” said Efremi.
“There was no agreement between us, I didn’t know where he was going to, what he was going to do or when he would be coming back.
“It’s all well and good you producing evidence that makes me look guilty, how about you produce evidence that makes me look innocent.”
Mr Mayo then accused Efremi of trying to “mislead this jury in an effort to save your own neck”.
“The truth is, if you only would tell it, is that you knew where he was going and what he was going to do,” said Mr Mayo.
“I did not know where he was going,” was Efremi’s response.
“You and Philip Spence were, on the 5th April, as thick as thieves.”
“Not in that sense,” replied Efremi.
He said his “cosy relationship” with Spence had abruptly ended after the savage attacks.
“Your cosy relationship since then has been under threat as each of you has tried to save your own necks,” said Mr Mayo.
The trial continues Friday.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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