The Briton who was fatally stabbed last week in Al-Khobar managed to send out an SMS that revealed the identity of his alleged killer, sources said. The SMS received by a staffer of the company in which the Briton was working said, “I'm in a fix” and included a name. The staffer immediately alerted the police who found the Briton in an apartment on Prince Naif Al Suad Street with four stab wounds to his neck, one in the back and one to his waist. By Wednesday afternoon, Muhammad Mukhlis Shamsuddin, a 28-year-old Egyptian, was arrested. Shamsuddin has been referred to the Shariah Court in Khobar where his testimony was endorsed. In his testimony, he claimed that the Briton had tried to rape him and that he had killed him in self defense. Police found Shamsuddin in a polyclinic in Khobar with serious injuries in his hands. Sources who went to the crime scene said it appeared as if the Briton was in a fierce fight before he died. Shamsuddin shared the apartment with the Briton. Gulf Daily News in Bahrain, quoting its sources, identified the Briton as 46-year-old Stephen John Havering. The paper said that Havering had been living in Bahrain, but commuted to Saudi Arabia for the past six months. He was married to a German woman and the couple had a son and a daughter. It is thought his family were planning to join him in Bahrain from their home in the Netherlands, the paper said. Shamsuddin worked as a translator in the oil company for which the Briton was an investment consultant. Sources told Okaz that the Briton went to Shamsuddin's apartment and tried to sexually assault him. Yasser, a Yemeni shopkeeper near the area said he helped Shamsuddin get to hospital on Tuesday night. “I had closed the shop at midnight and gone to a restaurant near the Egyptian's residence to buy something for dinner,” he said. “Suddenly I heard a man shouting for help and when I turned around I was stunned to see his face covered in blood. I tried to hold his hand but he screamed in pain because it was injured. I helped him reach the main road nearby. Then I telephoned the Red Crescent and the security patrol. He was rushed to a private hospital.” Yasser said Shamsuddin gave him telephone numbers to call and tell that he was going to the hospital. The restaurant manager said he knew Shamsuddin and that he was always well mannered. – Okaz __
