The wife of an offshore oil rig worker killed by a colleague in Qatar says questions still remain about the case.
Kirstie Graham said she has still has no answers as to why her partner, Robbie Robson, was killed on the Seafox Burj rig in December 2022.
Robson, 38, was attacked with a 10kg iron weight by colleague and room-mate, Scott Forrest, 43, of Maud, Aberdeenshire.
Forrest has been in custody in Doha ever since and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter earlier this year, but the Qatar’s court process has been shrouded in secrecy.
Since the verdict, Ms Graham claims she has been left unable to establish why her partner was killed.
She said that Forrest did not give any answers about his motive in the court paperwork she had been sent about the case.
“Why would he do such a dreadful thing to such a beautiful person?” Ms Graham told The Scottish Sun.
“Robbie was so kind and caring, thoughtful and respectful. He was the nicest lad you could ever meet. Everyone said that about him, even the guy who killed him.
“It’s just mad. We have so many unanswered questions and no one is helping us.”
‘I just can’t get my head around it’
In the days before his killing, Ms Graham said Robson had vowed his eight-week stint in the lead up to Christmas that year would be his last.
He had become tired of long shifts away from home and the couple, from Tyne and Wear, planned to get married soon after he returned.
Five days before he was due to fly home, he was attacked by Forrest who had recently be transferred to the rig to cover a sick worker.
Ms Graham said Robson and Forrest and their third roommate, Chris Begley of Lanarkshire, “got on really well”.
The three men were employed by subsea contracting firm Film-Ocean Ltd, based in Ellon, Aberdeenshire.
“Chris told me he never thought there was anything underlying or anything bubbling away,” Ms Graham said.
“Even in the horrible detail I’ve had to read, Scott said Robbie was a really nice man. I just can’t get my head around it.”
Ms Graham said Robson had been sitting at his computer doing work research when Forrest came up from behind and repeatedly bludgeoned him with a 10kg weight.
Forrest then cleaned up the blood, put Robson’s body into his bunk and told colleagues he was sleeping and should not be disturbed while he went to the rig’s canteen for breakfast.
Ms Graham said: “He told them Robbie had made a mess of the room and that he wasn’t well.
“You would have thought he would have been acting a bit weird, but the other guys said there was nothing like that with him.
“He was just having a conversation with them and talking as if he hadn’t done anything wrong.”
Ms Graham also said Robson had complained to his employer about the sleeping arrangements on the Qatari oil rig, asking to be moved cabins.
She has now launched legal action against Film-Ocean over Robson’s death.