Knifeman had ‘eyes wide open like he was on something’ during Peterborough attack, court told
A knifeman who stabbed 10 people on a London-bound train was described by a boy he stabbed in Peterborough the day before as having “his eyes wide open like he was on something”, a court heard.
Anthony Williams, 33, denies attempting to murder 10 people on an LNER train that was stopped in Huntingdon on November 1 last year.
He also denies the attempted murders of three people in Peterborough on October 31, and of a 17-year-old boy at Pontoon Dock DLR station in London in the early hours of November 1.
A jury has been told that Williams accepts carrying out the attacks – but it is his intent – and whether he intended to kill – that they must decide.
A 14-year-old boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told police in a video-recorded interview played in court on Friday that he was stabbed on Halloween last year near Henry Penn Walk in Peterborough city centre.
He told the court he was going to go trick or treating with friends and was walking over a bridge behind an Asda store in Peterborough when a man “just pulled out a knife and stabbed me”.
He described the person as “this random guy” and said it happened shortly after 7pm as he was walking with a friend, along a footbridge near Henry Penn Walk.
“We’ve pretty much got right up close to him as we’re walking past him and he’s pulled out a knife and just stabbed me,” the boy said.
He added: “I didn’t feel like he was mentally sane.
“His eyes were wide open like he was on something.”
He said the man “shouted something, I don’t know what he said”.
“I jumped back a little when I saw he was reaching for something and I started running,” the boy said.
He told the court: “He was screaming something.
“My friend said he was shouting something like ‘are you involved?’.”
The boy told the court that he and his friend ran and hid in bushes and called the police.
Williams denies 14 counts of attempted murder.
The trial continues.