A jury in the U.K. convicted a Saudi prince Tuesday of murdering his servant in a vicious attack at a London hotel earlier this year.
Saud Bin Abdulaziz Bin Nasir al Saud, 34, was found guilty of killing Bandar Abdullah Abdulaziz at the Landmark Hotel in London on February 15 after abusing him for several weeks.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said after the verdict that the servant was the victim of “many more assaults over an extended period of time.”
He added, “This verdict shows that nobody is above the law in this country. The Metropolitan Police will seek to prosecute those who engage in violence in this country.”
The prince was accused of murdering the servant in a ferocious attack which contained a “sexual element,” the jury at the Old Bailey criminal court heard during the prince’s trial.
The court heard during the trial that the prince strangled and beat the servant to death.
The jury deliberated for just 95 minutes Tuesday before returning to the court with the guilty verdict.
The prince had denied committing the murder, and also denied a second criminal charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. He was found guilty Tuesday on both counts.
The jury rejected the submission of the prince’s lawyer, John Kelsey-Fry, QC, who told the court that the prince was only guilty of manslaughter.
Kelsey-Fry told the court that suggestions made during the trial the two men were in a homosexual relationship were erroneous.
The court heard that the sexual nature of the attack revealed the prince was “either gay or … has homosexual tendencies.”
The court also heard that homosexuality was a crime punished by death in Saudi Arabia.
During the prince’s trial, prosecutor Bobbie Cheema said, “Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia and carries the death penalty which is still applied in some cases.”
She added, “The country in which any alleged acts took place would have little bearing on the likelihood of prosecution as the Saudi legal system is based on the sharia law which is considered to be universal.”
The prince is due to be sentenced Wednesday.