17 - 23 May 2001
Issue No.534
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 17 - 23 May 2001 Issue No.534 |
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It happened at Pizza Pomodoro
The Arcadia murder case picks up pace as witnesses for the defence take the stand. Shaden Shehab joins the courtroom crowds
Though many people have dismissed the media frenzy over the Arcadia murder trial as too much hype, the high-profile trial of young businessman Omar El-Hawari lends itself to sensationalism. Egyptians following the story are consumed by the trial details with the same rapture that kept Americans glued to their televisions during the sensational OJ Simpson murder trial.
(anti-clockwise) El-Hawari is lead to the dock under heavy guard; presiding judge Ibrahim and the panel hear testimony of Abdel-Aziz and Mamdouh
While the first two court sessions in El-Hawari's trial, which opened 6 May, were devoted to hearing the requests of the defence and civil claimants, the plot thickened on Sunday with the third hearing. Two witnesses were summoned to recount what they saw in the early hours of 12 April at the Pizza Pomodoro restaurant in Arcadia Mall, the scene of the crime. Prosecutors accuse 29-year-old El-Hawari of stabbing and killing Mahmoud Rawhi, the 37-year-old board chairman of Hertz Egypt, with a butterfly knife.
The corridor leading to the courtroom in Bab El-Khalq's Criminal Court felt more like a crammed public bus than the hallowed halls of justice. Security officers were particularly tough in their choice of people allowed to enter the courtroom and were fighting off would-be spectators. Inside, people were ordered to remain seated, but given the limited number of benches, many had to remain standing. By 9.30am, the hall was jammed full of relatives of the victim and the defendant, dozens of lawyers and journalists and teams of security forces. World-class squash player Ahmed Barrada, who was a friend of Rawhi's, was also in attendance. "It is important for me to follow the trial," he said.
The windows, shut to ward off a dreadful sandstorm, shook ominously, and the room filled with cigarette smoke. Most of Rawhi's relatives were reading the Qur'an. His widow, Shorouq, held a large photograph of Rawhi with a citation from the Qur'an vowing God's vengeance for transgressors.
"The death sentence ... the death sentence!" The chants of the crowd outside blew into the courtroom as a door opened, making way for El-Hawari's entrance. Before he settled into the caged dock, he exchanged a smile with his family seated nearby. As in previous hearings, the defendant's family was seated on one side of the courtroom, the victim's, on the other. El-Hawari's eyes were glued to a small copy of the Qur'an and they remained that way until the court hearing started as late as 11.00am. Presiding Judge Galal Ibrahim called on the defence and civil claimants to announce the names of their witnesses.
Before anyone` could proceed, Maher El-Derbi, the defendant's lawyer, made a last plea for adjournment. "Your honour, we would like to point out that in other murder cases, judges did not accelerate the pace of the trial like in this case."
Replying angrily, Ibrahim said: "With all due respect to other judges, this court is as fair as any, and is responsive to all your requests for the sake of justice. So would you please tell the court the names of your witnesses." The trial is pressed for time as courts recess in June for the summer. Because of the looming deadline, the judge decided on 10 May to hold hearings on a daily basis.
The names of the witnesses were soon announced and all witnesses were asked to leave the courtroom so they might not hear each other's testimony. The first witness for the defence was Essam Abdel-Aziz. Handcuffed and dressed in the white uniform of defendants on trial, the 23-year-old engineering student made his way to the podium. Abdel-Aziz is accused of inflicting a permanent deformity on Mohamed Abu-Steit, one of Rawhi's friends, on the night of Rawhi's murder.
"I went to Pomodoro at around 2.00am on Thursday [12 April]. At about 3.15am, I saw Mahmoud [Rawhi] with four people. The only one of them I recognised was Mustafa Naguib [known as Rawhi's bodyguard]. At the same time, I saw Omar [El-Hawari] come in with Hamada Mamdouh. Omar and Mahmoud sat at separate tables, about four metres apart. I went to the bathroom and when I came out, I found Omar and Mahmoud fighting on the dance floor," Abdel-Aziz said.
"Were either Omar or Mahmoud carrying a weapon?" interrupted Ibrahim.
"No, they weren't," Abdel-Aziz responded in a shaky voice. "At this point, Mohamed Abu-Steit hit me and broke my nose, which sent the world spinning and forced me to rush to hospital."
"Are you a friend of Omar's?" Ibrahim asked.
"No, your honour, I only see him around," replied Abdel-Aziz.
"But Omar says you became involved in a fight with Mohamed Abu-Steit because you came to his rescue?" the judge pressed, but Abdel-Aziz denied the claim.
Having completed his testimony, Abdel-Aziz exited and Hamada Mamdouh, a mutual friend of El-Hawari's and Rawhi's, took the stand.
"I was in the old Pomodoro restaurant [at the Shagara Casino near Arcadia Mall] where I met Omar [El-Hawari]," Mamdouh recounted. "When I told him that I wanted to go to the new Pomodoro [in Arcadia], he said that he will come with me. So, he told a friend to take his car and he rode with me. On our way, we stopped for a few minutes at the [the club] Upstairs, in the World Trade Centre, to see Omar's brother."
Mamdouh's testimony is crucial, but it does not bode well for El-Hawari. "We reached Pomodoro at about 3.00am and a few minutes later Mahmoud [Rawhi] got up from his table and shook hands with me and kissed me, while Omar was standing beside me. Mahmoud asked me: 'Why are you hanging out with these kids?' meaning Omar. After Mahmoud returned to his table, Omar asked me what [Mahmoud] had said and I told him. Omar replied that it was only a matter of time before a quarrel with Mahmoud would erupt.
"A few minutes later, Mustafa Naguib, who works for Mahmoud and is his friend, approached me and asked me several times if I could talk to him outside. So I went with Mustafa and we stood at the entrance. He pleaded with me to take Omar somewhere else, because he seemed determined to pick up a fight with Mahmoud. Mustafa then went inside and I remained at the entrance talking to a couple of friends. Suddenly, I heard the noise of breaking glass. I went inside and saw Omar and Mustafa engaged in a fight. Mahmoud was soaked in blood and trying to stand up, but kept slipping to the floor. I tried to carry him, but all this blood was coming out of him and made his body slip away from me like a bar of soap. I finally carried him and went downstairs. A parking attendant known as Nasser took him to hospital in someone's car," Mamdouh concluded.
"Did Omar have anything alcoholic to drink?" the judge asked.
"He had two glasses of whiskey at the old Pomodoro and he ordered a third at the new Pomodoro, but I did not see him drink it," Mamdouh answered.
"This is not true! He is lying!" yelled El-Hawari from the dock, but he was silenced by the judge.
Mamdouh said that he only found out about Rawhi's death the next day, while he was preparing to go to Alexandria. El-Hawari's brother called him on his mobile phone and said that El-Hawari was in trouble and something has to be done to help him. Mamdouh said that El-Hawari's brother had asked him to testify before prosecutors that it was Rawhi and his friends who had lurked in wait for El-Hawari, but he refused, saying he would only testify to what he saw.
The judge called in other witnesses, but even though they had left their identification papers with the judge, they were nowhere to be found. "The defence is trying to win time," sneered one of the victim's lawyers. "This is why the witnesses disappeared, so that the hearings will be postponed." Given the lack of witnesses, the judge was forced to adjourn.
A vendor with a stack of Evian mineral water bottles stalked the courtroom and within a few minutes, he left without a bottle left. Reporters trying to talk to El-Hawari were pushed away by police officers. "You are not allowed to talk to him," was the only explanation given. Reporters turned to Rawhi's wife and were welcomed. "If he [El-Hawari] does not get a life sentence, no one will feel safe any more," she repeated continuously.
The judge interrupted and announced that the court would resume its hearings the next day (14 May), but again, El-Hawari's lawyer objected. "Your honour, we will not have enough time to summon the witnesses. We want to establish the truth, so please give us a chance," El-Derbi pleaded loudly.
Consulting with the two other judges on the panel, Ibrahim conceded the defence's request, saying that the court would resume hearings on 17 May. El-Hawari was taken out of the courtroom under the protection of security forces and again, the crowd's cries could be heard: "The death sentence ... the death sentence!"
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