‘I DON’T KNOW HOW OR WHY SHE DIED’
Man denies killing woman on night out
A MAN has denied murdering a woman who went missing on a night out.
Azam Mangori is accused of killing Lorraine Cox, aged 32, in his room above a kebab shop last year.
The 24-year-old, of Dartmouth Street, Tunstall, maintains Miss Cox died after drinking alcohol and smoking drugs after they had sex.
He admits he panicked when he discovered her lying dead on the floor, and left her in his room, Exeter Crown Court heard.
Adam Vaitilingam QC, defending, asked Mangori: “You told the jury you felt responsible for Lorraine’s death. I just want you to explain to the jury why it is you feel this.”
Mangori replied: “I don’t know how she died or why she died, and I don’t know the reason.
“But at the same time I feel really responsible because I just drank and drank and I didn’t know she had problems.
“I didn’t know she had diabetes and I didn’t know she’s not supposed to drink that much.”
The Iraqi national
dismembered her body with a knife and a saw and wrapped her remains in clingfilm, bin liners and tape – leaving them in bins and woodland around Exeter.
He previously told the jury that in his mind he was cutting up tobacco instead. Prosecutors say he cut Miss
Cox’s body into seven pieces over a week-long period due to a “morbid interest in amputation”.
The court has heard Mangori looked at videos of people with amputations, as well as others with deformities to their legs, and one of a woman’s lower leg experiencing cramp.
Simon Laws QC, prosecuting, said to Mangori: “You killed Lorraine Cox. You ended her life in your
bedroom, didn’t you?” Mangori replied: “Absolutely not.”
Mr Laws asked: “You spent the following week trying to cover up your crime, didn’t you?” Mangori replied: “That’s not true.”
The court watched CCTV of Mangori encountering Miss Cox, left, in the street, and Mr Laws suggested he ‘took advantage of her very drunk state’.
“It was obvious she was in no fit state to look after herself,” Mr Laws said. After meeting they had sex in an alleyway, which Mangori recorded on his mobile phone, telling the jury he did so in case she accused him of rape.
“Was its real purpose for you to be able to replay it later and enjoy it?” Mr Laws asked. Mangori replied: “That’s not correct.”
Mr Laws said on the recording Mangori can be heard offering Miss Cox free money, alcohol and drugs if she goes to his flat. The accused said he could not remember what he said to Miss Cox.
Mr Laws asked: “Have you invented the whole account of her taking drugs in your room?
“Have you done it in order to suggest another possible cause of Lorraine Cox’s death?” Mangori replied: “No.”
Mr Laws said: “You didn’t want help to come at any stage did you? You didn’t want an ambulance to come at any stage because you were the person who killed her.”
Mangori replied: “No, that’s absolutely false.”
The court has heard Mangori was a failed asylum seeker from Iraq, liable to deportation.
A post-mortem examination was carried out, but the pathologist was unable to determine a cause of death due to the length of time between Miss Cox’s death and the remains being found.
Mangori has admitted preventing Miss Cox’s lawful burial, but denies murder. The trial continues.