A knife attacker who is said to have pushed a woman into a ditch on a Bradford building site before stabbing her in the back has gone on trial accused of attempted murder.
A jury at Bradford Crown Court was on Tuesday shown CCTV footage of Mohammed Ali’s broad daylight attack on his victim which happened in the Cornwall Road area of Manningham in August 2022.
The 58-year-old, who is also known as Paul Mennell, has already pleaded guilty to charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and possession of an offensive weapon, but he has denied intending to kill the woman that morning.
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Ali, of Sunbridge Road, Bradford, broke down in tears in the dock as prosecutor Laura Addy outlined details of the attack and played the CCTV footage to the jury. Miss Addy described how the complainant, who had known of the defendant for a few years, had been walking from her home when he confronted her and punched her in the face chipping a tooth.
As the punches continued Ali dragged his victim towards a wheelie bin and from inside it he pulled out a large pink-handled kitchen knife. The prosecutor said: “He put that straight to her throat and told her he was going to kill her. She was begging the defendant to stop and in response the defendant simply repeated that he was going to kill her.”
(Image: Yorkshire Live)
Ali then took his victim to a nearby fenced off building site where he pushed the complainant into a deep ditch before jumping into the ditch himself. Miss Addy said the complainant suffered cuts to her fingers as she tried to protect herself from the thrusts with a serrated knife.
She added: “She was screaming for help. Crying and begging the defendant to stop and not to kill her.”
Ali stabbed the woman in her lower left back causing a large wound and Miss Addy alleged that during the attack the defendant had thrust the knife towards the complainant at least 10 times. A group of workmen came to her assistance and one man could be seen on the CCTV footage trying to get Ali off the woman by hitting him with a long metal pole.
One workman described Ali’s face as looking evil and being “contorted with rage.” Ali fled the scene and the woman was taken to hospital for her injuries to be treated.
But the court heard Ali then made a couple of 999 calls in which he admitted “losing his temper” and wanting to know if the woman had died. Miss Addy said in one of the calls Ali said if he couldn’t have the woman no-one could.
The court heard that in his police interviews Ali maintained that he didn’t intend to kill the woman and claimed the situation had got out of hand. He said he “lost it” and didn’t know why he had done it.
In her video recorded police interview the complainant suggested that Ali may have been “jealous”, but she only knew him as an associate.
The trial continues.
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