Bandar Abdulaziz was found beaten and strangled in the Landmark Hotel A servant allegedly beaten and strangled by a Saudi prince died without putting up a fight, the Old Bailey has heard.
Bandar Abdulaziz, 32, was so worn down by the “sadistic” abuse he had suffered that he “let the defendant kill him”, jurors heard.
He was found beaten and strangled in the Landmark Hotel, Marylebone, on 15 February.
Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud, 34, denies murder but admits manslaughter.
He also denies one count of causing grievous bodily harm with intent in relation to an earlier alleged attack in a hotel lift.
Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said they had a “master-servant” relationship in which Mr al Saud abused his aide for his “own personal gratification”.
The victim’s injuries showed the assault leading to his murder “was a really terrible,… really brutal attack”, Mr Laidlaw said.
“So worn down by the violence, so subservient and submissive had Bandar become that he was incapable of any effective resistance,” he added.
“He was killed without apparently ever having fought back because the defendant was completely unharmed, without any mark at all, when he was examined at the police station.
“Bandar appears to have let the defendant kill him.”
In his closing speech, Mr Laidlaw said: “The case serves as an example of how misleading some outward appearances can be.
“Witnesses have described how polite and well-mannered the defendant was.”
Others had spoken of how the prince and his aide were “good friends” and jurors were also shown apparently “perfectly ordinary holiday snaps” of the two men, he said.
“Beneath the surface this was a deeply abusive relationship which the defendant exploited,” he added.
Photos of Mr Abdulaziz stored on a mobile phone “plainly proved” that there was also a “sexual element” to the abuse, Mr Laidlaw said.
The trial continues.
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