Asylum seeker feeling faint when he stabbed pensioner

Ahmed Ali Alid said he never intended to kill or seriously injure Terrence Carney when he came across the pensioner who was on his regular early morning walk.

The 45-year-old accepted that he had inflicted the fatal stab wounds but maintained that it was never his intention to hurt the 70-year-old Hartlepool grandfather.

Ahmed Ali Alid (Image: PA)

Teesside Crown Court heard how Alid had earlier stabbed housemate Javed Nouri several times while he was asleep in the shared house for asylum seekers.

Giving evidence during his trial, the Moroccan national told the jury that he stabbed the pensioner after he pushed him when he was shouting ‘Free Palestine’.

John Elvidge KC, representing Alid, asked: “What happened then?” He replied: “We came face to face, he pushed me, my hand was bleeding and I had lost a lot of blood.

“I felt faint and he came towards me.”

The barrister asked: “Did you stab him?” He replied: “Yes.”

“Did you intend to kill him,” he asked. “No,” he replied.

Mr Elvidge asked: “Why did you stab him?” The defendant replied: “I thought I was going to faint and he would take the knife and stab me. I stabbed him and he fell onto the ground.”

CCTV still of Ahmed Ali Alid walking through Hartlepool armed with a knife (Image: Counter Terrorism Policing North East)

Under cross examination from prosecuting barrister, Jonathan Sandiford KC, the defendant said Mr Nouri disrespected his religion and himself.

The barrister asked why he went to his housemate’s room: “You went to take him by surprise before he had a chance to defend himself.”

Alid replied: “Nothing like that was in my mind. I was not planning it.”

Javed Nouri's bedroom in the shared house in Hartlepool (Image: PA)

The defendant said Mr Nouri was bigger and stronger than him and claimed that he had grabbed him first and tried to choke him.

Earlier in the trial, jurors had watched footage of the killing, which was captured on CCTV, where the pensioner could be heard screaming ‘No, no, no’ as the defendant stabbed him repeatedly.

Dr Nigel Cooper, a Home Office pathologist, said Mr Carney died as a result of significant blood loss predominantly caused by the stab to the heart.

The Judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb DBE told the jury that the accused accepts the facts of the case but they will be asked to consider Alid’s state of mind at the time of the alleged offences.

See more court stories from The Northern Echo by clicking here

• Businessman caught with 2kg of high purity cocaine in undercover police sting
• Woman left her mother with fractured spine after she drunkenly crashed her car

• Two young offenders went on 'burglary expedition’ armed with knives

Get more from The Northern Echo with a digital subscription. Click here

The asylum seeker had been reported to police and housing managers as his behaviour became increasingly concerning when he carried a knife in the shared property, jurors had heard.

Alid, of Wharton Terrace, Hartlepool, denies he murdered the pensioner.

He also denies the attempted murder of his housemate and two charges of assaulting an emergency worker.

The trial continues on Tuesday when the cross examination of the defendant will continue.