A 14-year-old boy stabbed by a man later accused of carrying out a mass attack on a train told a court that his assailant stared at him with his “eyes wide open” while shouting: “Are you involved, are you involved?”
The teenager was trick-or-treating with a friend when Anthony Williams “just pulled out a knife and stabbed me”.
The frightened pair fled and hid in bushes, where they stayed until police arrived after they called 999.
The attack took place on a footbridge over the River Nene in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. It was the first of 14 assaults allegedly carried out by Williams during a Halloween weekend rampage that culminated in 10 attacks aboard a train.
Cambridge Crown Court has heard that Williams admits 12 charges of wounding with intent and two of attempted wounding with intent, but denies 14 charges of attempted murder.
In a police interview, the boy said he had been with his friend on the evening of October 31 last year when “some random guy I’d literally never seen in my life just pulls out a knife and stabs me”.
He said Williams removed a 10-inch black knife from his waistband and began shouting. His friend believed the man was saying: “Are you involved, are you involved?”
Anthony Williams, 33, is seen moving through the carriages of the LNER train in footage shown to jurors
“His eyes were wide open, like he was on something. I don’t think he was well,” the boy said.
“We just ran away. Because I had so much adrenaline, I only thought someone had poked me in the chest.
“We ran into some bushes. My friend was saying, ‘Call the police, call the police’. I was saying, ‘I think I’ve been stabbed.’”
The teenager told the interviewing officer that the blow to his chest had been “strong – it pushed me back a bit. He was using his full force”.
Williams is also accused of attempting to murder two other men, Dawid Taborski and William Ogelby, in separate incidents near the same location minutes later.
Mr Taborski said in a video interview that he was on his way to a rave when a man he had never seen before repeatedly asked him: “Are you involved, are you involved?”
He said he “didn’t know what he (Williams) was on about” and was “really confused”, initially wondering whether it was “a Halloween thing”.
“As soon as he took that knife out I ran. It happened so quickly,” he added.
Detective Constable Ryan Burke said he was carrying out high-visibility foot patrols when Mr Taborski approached him near Charters bar and reported that someone had tried to stab him but had missed.
Williams is accused of attempting to murder 10 people on an LNER service from Doncaster to London and four others in attacks the previous day
In a statement, the officer said Mr Taborski described the attacker as brandishing a “long silver blade” before lunging at him.
Mr Ogelby told police he had been walking to a cashpoint when a man coming towards him said “wagwan”, which he understood as a greeting.
“I’ve said (it) back and he’s pulled a knife out and tried to stab me three times in my stomach and once in my chest,” he said in a video interview played to the jury.
He said he ran home “as fast as my legs would carry me” and checked himself for injuries, adding: “I wasn’t bleeding.”
“I thought he was going to kill me,” he said.
Jurors were shown a photograph of Mr Ogelby wearing a jacket that prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC described as bearing a “knife cut”.
The court has also heard about the terror, as well as acts of remarkable bravery, that unfolded the next day when Williams allegedly moved through the carriages of an LNER service from Doncaster to London, attacking passengers with a knife and leaving some with serious injuries.
LNER worker Samir Zitouni is seen using a frying pan as he tries to stop train attacker Anthony Williams
Several passengers and a member of staff tried to confront him during what prosecutors described as a “storm of violence”.
Train worker Samir Zitouni attempted to hold Williams back by creating a “defensive blockade” from items including a frying pan and a toaster.
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He then gathered a group of “big, strong men” before waving a pan at the attacker. Williams responded with an assault described in court as “prolonged, persistent and brutal”.
Footage shown to the court after the train stopped captured Mr Zitouni staggering along the platform in a blood-soaked shirt before collapsing against a carriage and falling on to the tracks.
His multiple injuries included partially collapsed lungs and damage to his spleen.
Football fan Stephen Crean, who was unarmed, “whispered to those in the café bar to shut the door and went towards the defendant”, jurors were told.
Williams asked him, “Do you want to die?” before stabbing him repeatedly in the head, upper and lower back, fingers and hip during what was described as a “one-sided” attack.
Some passengers said the defendant rambled about the “devil” and “power” and warned: “Everyone’s gonna die today.”
Car delivery driver Raza Aslam recalled seeing what he described as “the greatest delight” on the defendant’s face, adding: “I saw his eyes expand with pleasure.”
The Halloween violence began with the stabbing of the 14-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, on the evening of October 31 last year.
Two men, Dawid Taborski and William Ogelby, were attacked nearby minutes later but escaped injury.
A 17-year-old was then stabbed in the face while travelling on the Docklands Light Railway in east London, at Pontoon Dock, during the early hours of November 1.
Later that evening, Williams boarded an LNER train in his home town of Peterborough at 7.26pm, carrying a “large kitchen knife and a bottle of fortified tonic wine”, before the mass stabbing began.
Describing the passengers’ reaction, Mr Paxton told the jury: “In sheer terror, the train passengers ran for their lives, hiding in locked toilets, store cupboards or under seats, while many fleeing the defendant literally ran out of the train.”
Bodycam footage captured the moment Williams was arrested by police officers
“Trapped and facing the defendant, who had been wielding, slashing and stabbing with his knife, some tried to defend themselves and others on the train. They showed extraordinary bravery, picking up frying pans or toasters to keep him back, and even attempting to de-escalate the situation by asking why he was doing it and telling him that they loved him.
“But to no avail. The defendant continued his knife attack, slashing and stabbing those around him.”
Disturbing footage shown in court appeared to show dozens of passengers in coats and hats running through the carriages as Williams approached.
The attack ended when the “quick-thinking” train driver arranged an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire.
Williams, who is appearing in court by videolink from Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire, was shown in bodycam footage being arrested by armed officers, who used a Taser to incapacitate him.
He was examined at hospital before being taken to a police station in Cambridge, although officers deemed him unfit for interview.
While in custody, he punched a police constable on the nose, resulting in a charge of causing actual bodily harm. The court heard he has admitted that offence.
Passengers are seen running along a platform after the train made an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon station last year
Prosecutor Chris Paxton KC told jurors that Williams has “some mental health issues which may or may not become relevant during this trial”.
However, passenger Michael Paffett, who suffered a deep wound to his face, described how Williams ordered him to remain in a carriage after attacking him, saying: “I don’t want you behind me.”
The prosecution argues that this demonstrated Williams was “functioning, responding and reactive to those around him”.
Mr Paxton told the jury: “There is no issue in this case as to who is responsible for these attacks. The defendant accepts he carried out these attacks.
“The issue in this case, so far as the attempted murder counts are concerned, relates primarily to the defendant’s intention – whether he intended to kill, as the prosecution says he did.”
The trial continues.
