Survivor of axe attack at side of A2 near Canterbury heard assailants say ‘he’s finished’ during incident, trial told
The survivor of an axe attack at the side of the A2 recalled hearing the words "now he is finished" before his assailants fled, a jury has been told. Nasrat Ahmadzai told police the comment was uttered during what is alleged to have been an attempt on his life while on the London-bound dual carriageway near Canterbury in December last year.
The 24-year-old was driving a Seat Leon when it is said he was forced to a halt by a Mercedes S-class before being violently assaulted by its two armed occupants. One of the Seat passengers - Aleem Marufkhail - also came under attack when he went to try and help his stricken friend, who was left lying in a pool of blood with skull fractures and a brain injury.
Canterbury Crown Court heard that when Mr Ahmadzai woke up in a London hospital, he was unable to feel his limbs and told doctors he had been in an accident. But he maintained when questioned by police three months later that although he struggled with his memory and it was others who had subsequently informed him he had been attacked, he had himself heard the "he's finished" remark being said by one of two men before they drove away. In a video-recorded interview given at his hospital bedside and with the assistance of an interpreter, Mr Ahmadzai described what he could remember of the violent encounter.
"They brought their car in front of me and then I saw I was in hospital, King's College Hospital," he stated.
"Nothing else I could remember and the doctors were asking 'what happened?' and I said 'I have had an accident.'
"However, it was not an accident and then I found out. I kind of found out that somebody has attacked me and they have assaulted me. "I cannot remember anything.
All I could remember was one person told another person: 'Now he is finished. Leave him.'." The interview, recorded on March 19 this year and showing Mr Ahmadzai sitting in a wheelchair, was played to the court at the start of his evidence on Thursday (October 23).
On trial accused of attempting to murder Mr Ahmadzai and causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent to Mr Marufkhail, are fellow Afghan nationals, Dawood Khan, 28, and 36-year-old Esmatullah Paktiawal. Wielding an axe and a cricket bat, the pair are alleged by the prosecution to have acted "in concert, lending encouragement to each other" to seriously assault their victims near the A28 Wincheap junction at about 5.30am on December 14. The court has previously heard that having got out of his car, Mr Ahmadzai was "instantly" confronted before being struck to the head with significant force from the sharp-bladed weapon.
Mr Marufkhail, a 32-year-old Uber driver from London, was then repeatedly hit to his left hand and head, suffering deep wounds and fractures as a result, while a second passenger in the Seat - 19-year-old Faizullah Ahmadzai - managed to flee into nearby woodland. When questioned by police about the events leading up to the attack, Mr Ahmadzai said he and his teenage friend had originally intended to drive from their homes in Birmingham to visit London Bridge.
However, he explained how their plan changed after being told that traffic was busy and, having met up with Mr Marufkhail en route, they went "to the seaside" instead and ate kebabs. It was then, as they travelled back in the direction of London, that Mr Ahmadzai said he saw the Mercedes approaching his car "quite quickly" from behind on the A2.
He told police: "I saw in the wing mirror that one car was coming very fast... it overtook me and stopped me in the middle [of the road].
"They stopped the car in front of me. I thought they were police because I was thinking: 'Why are they doing this? Why are they stop [sic]?'
"That's why I stopped. Because I didn't have any problem. I just wanted to know why they were stopping me."
Mr Ahmadzai said that after he had pulled over towards the left-hand side of the road and put his emergency lights on, he saw two men get out of the Mercedes.
He told police that although he had not seen them before, he noticed the driver was wearing a distinctive, blue-coloured traditional Afghan waistcoat. Describing him as also having a short, black beard with stubble, he added: "I can remember what the driver looked like because when he stopped me, I looked to see who was stopping. "That's when I got out of the car.
But I don't remember what happened after that."
Mr Ahmadzai, who was unable to describe the second man, also explained to the interviewing officers that what he had told them was a detail that he could recall himself, adding: "Things flash back and I remember." Asked about the moment he had woken up in hospital, he continued: "I could see my hand but I was not feeling my arms or my legs. "I thought maybe my legs were not there.
My right side would not move but my left side fingers were moving." When questioned about the comment "he's finished" and whether he had been told by others that that had been said, he maintained it was something he heard himself. 'I thought maybe my legs were not there.
My right side would not move but my left side fingers were moving.' "The driver said to this other male or the other person that 'he's finished' and then they left," Mr Ahmadzai explained.
"Because you are asking me questions now, I can remember this part. Now I can remember.
This kind of came to my memory - the driver, what he look like [sic] and what he say [sic]. "I'm trying to remember and while I'm remembering, those are the things that come to my mind. "This [the comment] is something I remember, not that I have been told."
The jury heard that following the attack, police found a flick knife in the driver's door of the Seat, as well as a baseball bat, claw hammer and mallet in the boot.
Mr Ahmadzai denied knowledge of the items, however, telling the interviewing officers he had bought the car just a few days earlier. Khan, of Burnt Oak, Barnet, London, and Paktiawal, of Britannia Place, Plymouth, each deny attempted murder, causing GBH with intent, and two offences of possessing an offensive weapon. The jury has been told that although the motive for the violence was not known, there was "involvement at some level with human trafficking" in the background.
As well as all those caught up in the incident being from Afghanistan, it was said Paktiawal had been living at Folkestone's Napier Barracks - a former military base used to house asylum seekers - around the time of the incident.
Furthermore, another migrant discovered by police that same morning hiding in a lorry trailer parked in a layby on the A2 and destined for the continent, had links to Khan, it is alleged. 'All I could remember was one person told another person: 'Now he is finished. Leave him.'...'
Mr Ahmadzai denied, however, during cross-examination by Khan's barrister Charles Burton that the reason for meeting Mr Marufkhail that night was associated with people-smuggling. "No, the intention was to come here to spend some time here, have some fresh air and to go back," he replied. He also told the court he could not remember being at the Moto Services in Thurrock, Essex, in the early hours of December 13.
Shown a series of CCTV images featuring a Seat Leon and a group of five men, Mr Burton asked: "It's you, isn't it?" Mr Ahmadzai replied: "He looks like me. I don't know."
The trial continues.