CCTV shows staff member fight Huntingdon train attacker with frying pan

ByPhil Shepka

at Cambridge Crown Court

CCTV footage of a member of train staff using a frying pan to stop a man accused of attempting to murder 10 passengers has been shown in court.

Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC said Samir Zitouni showed "sheer courage and bravery in seeking to save lives and defend others" during the mass stabbing on the Doncaster to King's Cross train.

Jurors at Cambridge Crown Court saw footage of Zitouni using the frying pan against Anthony Williams before the train made an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon railway station on November 1 last year.

Williams, 33, of Langford Road in Peterborough, denies 14 counts of attempted murder which includes incidents in Peterborough and London the day before.

On the second day of the trial, prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC told jurors how passengers had "stood tall against the defendant's onslaught".

Paxton who also outlined attacks on nine other people on the train, said the attack on Zitouni was "prolonged, persistent and brutal".

Despite being left in a life-threatening condition he told the defendant "we love you, we can help you".

Later CCTV footage played out in court showed people fleeing the train, and Zitouni, in what Paxton described as a "blood-soaked shirt", appeared "to be one of the last off the train".

Paxton said he "falls between, essentially, the gap between the train and the platform".

The court heard both Zitouni's lungs had been punctured and that he needed four blood transfusions, chest drains and the "assistance of a ventilator".

Paxton had earlier told how there was hand-to-hand fighting on the train as victims "literally fought for their lives".

He said one victim, Sachin Balakrishnan, had been stabbed in the forearm and chest, puncturing a lung and "being just centimetres from his heart".

Commenting on the CCTV footage, Paxton said: "You can see the panic, you can see the fear in the faces of those fleeing.

"In this storm of violence, and even when gripped by fear, many there on that train helped others and, as we will see, some stood tall, quite literally, against the defendant's violent onslaught."

Jurors also heard how Scott Green had been travelling on the Doncaster to King's Cross train with his dog Poppy.

Paxton said: "He thought he was going to lose his life on the train when the defendant tried to stab him for the third time.

"It seems, members of the jury, that Poppy the dog, for Mr Green at least, saved the day and sent the defendant running off.

"You will hear that in an unrelated incident the defendant had previously been bitten by a dog."

The court was also told of an attack on 73-year-old David Presland who had been stabbed in the back while on his hands and knees.

Presland said he had been "helped by someone he knew as Kevin" - believed to be Kevin Deely, another of those Williams is accused of attempting to murder.

Paxton told the court the events were "all over in about five minutes", adding: "In that time, 10 men are stabbed by one man, this defendant, Mr Williams".

Williams, of Langford Road, Peterborough, is accused of attempting to murder Jonathan Gjoshe, Sachin Balakrishnan, David Presland, Scott Bletcher, Scott Green, Kevin Deely, Stephen Crean, Raza Aslam, Michael Paffett and Samir Zitouni on the train between Peterborough and Huntingdon on that Saturday evening.

He is also accused of attempting to murder a 14-year-old boy and Dawid Taborski on a footbridge near Henry Penn Walk in Peterborough on 31 October, and William Ogelby at Railworld car park in the city shortly afterwards.

The trial continues.

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