LONDON // The Emirati sisters bludgeoned with a hammer and left for dead in their London hotel room have described how the attack has destroyed their lives and traumatised their children.
Their attacker, Philip Spence, 33, could become the first person under English law to be given a whole life sentence for a crime other than murder.
But no sentence will be enough for Khuloud Al Najjar, 36, who, along with sisters Ohoud, 34, and Fatima, 31, was the victim of the savage attack by Spence in the early hours of April 6 in their room in at the Cumberland Hotel, Marble Arch, central London.
She said: “My sister Fatima and I both feel very strongly about what is considered to be justice for Philip Spence. I will say that 100 years in prison is not enough.
“It means nothing to me that he will be in prison; I want him to feel the pain he caused us. While I respect the laws of the UK, I cannot say I feel justice will be done simply by sending him to prison.
“He has never once shown any ounce of remorse; his sole concern has been for himself and to find some way of getting away with what he did.
“I will never ever forgive him, and sincerely hope that one day he feels the full burden for what he has done.”
The jury of five men and seven women unanimously found Spence guilty of three charges of attempted murder. Adjourning sentencing for reports, Judge Anthony Leonard, QC, said: “I will have to consider a full life term … I am bound to be considering a very substantial sentence.”
The Najjar family were visiting from Sharjah and had spent the day at Buckingham Palace and the London Aquarium.
It was by chance that Ohoud misplaced her key card and left her door ajar so her family could come and go.
Half-sister Sheikha Al Muhairi, 19, narrowly escaped the attack but returned to the rooms later that morning to an appalling scene. Ohoud lay in blood-saturated sheets and the walls were spattered with blood. Khuloud lay on a bloodied bed and Fatima was on the floor, not moving.
In statement released after the verdict, Khuloud said: “My emotions are still very raw. Everything in my life has changed for ever. That night I lost everything, my way of life, my sister Ohoud and also my ability to care for my children as much as I would like.
“I am extremely upset and emotional. I cannot sleep for anxiety and flashbacks of the sounds of my children screaming.
“When that man attacked myself and my sisters, and stole our belongings, he took far more than our property, he took away our futures – things that I had planned, dreams that I had for my family and children. He also stole my children’s innocence.
“They will never view the world in the same way. They do not trust anyone. They are now fearful to be alone and do not want to leave home – they cannot even bear to visit their aunty Ohoud.
“Yet they do not want to talk about what happened and I am scared they are bottling it all up.
“Ohoud has lost everything. I recall the moment I was told she was going to pass away and feeling as though I did not want to live without her. She is now bound to a hospital bed for the rest of her life, unable to communicate, to have a family and become the woman she was destined to be.”
Spence had been smoking crack for two days when he spotted a stash of designer bags through a partially open door as he prowled the corridors on the seventh floor of the hotel. He slipped into the suite and began cramming iPads, phones and jewellery in a suitcase he found.
When Khuloud woke up, Spence yelled “Give me f****** money” before raining down blows with the hammer he had concealed in his jacket.
Her bloodcurdling screams woke Fatima, who desperately tried to stop the attack.
But Spence started to rain blows down on her head until she, too, lost consciousness. Khuloud’s two daughters, just 11 and 7, were also in the room.
Next door their sister Ohoud and Khuloud’s nine-year-old son were sleeping.
Spence brutally pounded Ohoud’s head with the hammer, destroying the left side of her skull and leaving her for dead. Khuloud’s son was later found cowering under the bed sheets next to his injured aunt.
Spence then fled the scene with the stolen suitcase stuffed with valuables.
The crack addict, who boasted he “always had a hammer with him”, had an appalling criminal record for burglary and violence.
Fellow crack addict Neofitos “Thomas” Efremi, 57, plotted the burglary with Spence and provided him with the hammer. Efremi threatened a police officer as he left the dock after the verdicts, shouting: “I’ll kill you.”
James Moss, 33, earlier admitted handling stolen goods after he was caught with the sisters’ property in his cellar. But valuables worth thousands of pounds were never recovered.
Metropolitan Police commander Makhdum Chishty said the terror the Emirati sisters must have felt was “unimaginable”.
“The level of violence Spence chose to use was extraordinary,” he said. “Our thoughts are with the women he injured and nearly killed, and their families.
“While his conviction will change little for them, it may go some way to helping them deal with the events of that night. I would like to pay tribute to them and the courage and fortitude they showed in giving evidence to the court.”
The commander also thanked Abu Dhabi Police for providing “crucial assistance and whose officers came to London to assist the investigation team … we are grateful that we were able to form a close working relationship with them.
“I would like to give reassurance that an incident of this nature is thankfully very, very rare and the victims were not specifically targeted, followed or attacked because they are from the UAE.”
newsdesk@thenational.ae
