A man accused of stabbing his wife to death after becoming interested in another woman and getting into money problems cried as detectives told him "she doesn't love you", a court heard. Mohamed Samak allegedly murdered interior designer Joanne Samak, 49, in the early hours of July 1 last year at their home in Droitwich Spa, Worcs. The 42-year-old however claims Joanne's injuries were self-inflicted, having repeatedly stabbed herself before being found slumped on a bed with a knife in her abdomen.
Samak is on trial at Worcester crown court, where a jury heard a transcript on Tuesday of his police interview two days after Joanne's death. He was told by officers that she had confessed to a friend that she did not love him and "I wish I could divorce him". Egyptian national Samak, an ex-international hockey coach and player for the country, became upset in the interview, saying: “She never said that. I wish she did. If she is not happy about our relationship, why is she not bringing it out? I bring out stuff. She never said to me anything about that, it is the first time I hear this. I left my career, my country, I left my family behind for her. She said she loved me, she said she didn’t have any problems.”.
He was also quizzed on why he had told police he found Joanne dead on the bed before claiming she had stabbed herself, as detectives accused him of changing his story about there being no noises from his wife after being told a neighbour had heard an "almighty scream" from the house. He responded: “I was frightened of the situation, I was scared. I didn’t mean to lie.” When asked by officers why it took him more than an hour to call 999 and if he used that time to “try and work out how to cover up” what had taken place, he said: “I tried to help, I tried to stop her. I didn’t do it, I was in a very difficult situation. I stopped thinking. Everything was so quick.”.
Samak denied that the couple had argued and that he had “lost control”, said he did not inflict the injuries on her and denied that they had money problems. He also told police he would “never ever” cheat on his wife, even though he had been speaking to another woman and had met up with her in London. The trial was previously told that Samak had made a call to a debt advice service and shared worries about not being able to pay his portion of the household bills, which his wife would ask him to send to her every month. In one WhatsApp message sent to her husband in December 2023, Mrs Samak apologised for being “an old nag” as she reminded him he needed to transfer her money.
