LONDON – Two men charged
with the gruesome murder of a
British soldier attempted to hack
off his head in broad daylight on
a London street, a court heard as
their trial opened Friday.
Michael Adebolajo, 28, and
Michael Adebowale, 22, are
accused of murdering 25-year-
old Lee Rigby as he walked to his
barracks in Woolwich, south
London, in May.
The two defendants, both
Britons of Nigerian descent who
have asked to be identified by
Muslim names in court, deny
murder.
As the trial opened at London’s
Old Bailey court, prosecutor
Richard Whittam said the pair
had run Rigby over with a car,
knocking him unconscious,
before attacking him with knives
and a meat cleaver in a
“cowardly and callous murder”.
Rigby’s relatives watched from
the courtroom as Whittam told
the jury of eight women and four
men that Adebowale had
stabbed and cut the soldier while
Adebolajo tried to cut his head
off.
They had dragged his body into
the middle of the road, Whittam
said, because “they wanted
members of the public to see the
consequence of what can only be
described as their barbarous
acts”. [img]http//:www.dvsl3w2q45hb8.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Michael-Adebolajo.jpg[/img]
File: This photo taken on
November 23, 2010 shows
Michael Adebolajo (C) among the
nine suspected members of the
Al-Shabaab Movement arrested
by Kenyan police on November
22 on claims of being Al-Shabaab
recruits on their way to Somalia
at the weekend. AFP photo
“They both attacked the
motionless body of Lee Rigby,”
Whittam told the jury.
“He was repeatedly stabbed and
it appears it was Michael
Adebolajo, the first defendant,
who made a serious and almost
successful attempt to decapitate
Lee Rigby with multiple blows to
his neck made with the meat
cleaver.
“At the same time as Michael
Adebolajo used the meat cleaver,
Michael Adebowale was using a
knife to stab and cut at Lee
Rigby’s body.”
One witness, Whittam said,
compared Adebolajo’s actions to
“a butcher attacking a joint of
meat”.
Rigby’s widow Rebecca walked
out of the court in tears during
the harrowing evidence.
There were gasps from the
courtroom as the jury was
shown CCTV footage of a car
veering onto the pavement and
ramming into the soldier.
When the police arrived,
Adebolajo ran at a police car
waving the meat cleaver and was
shot by officers, the prosecutor
said.
Adebowale charged at police
with a gun, and was also shot.
Adebolajo and Adebowale are
further accused of attempting to
murder a police officer and
conspiracy to murder a police
officer. They both deny these
charges.
The horrifying murder took place
in the middle of the day as a
group of schoolchildren were
returning from a local library,
Whittam told the jury. Members
of the public turned them back to
avoid the “awful” scene.
The prosecutor said passers-by
had shown “bravery and
decency” in the aftermath of the
attack, with one woman
confronting Adebolajo despite
the fact that he was still holding
the meat cleaver and his hands
were covered in blood.
Another woman “went to the
lifeless body of Lee Rigby and
stroked him to provide some
comfort and humanity”, he
added.
Adebolajo has asked to be
referred to as Mujaahid Abu
Hamza in court, while Adebowale
wants to be called Ismail Ibn
Abdullah.
Both defendants have admitted
possession of a firearm with
intent to cause violence.
The court was shown CCTV
footage of Adebolajo buying a
block of kitchen knives and a
knife sharpener from a south
London branch of the retailer
Argos on May 21, the day before
the attack.
Rigby, the father of a young son,
had joined the British army in
2006 and had served in
Afghanistan, the court heard.
(AFP)