Manchester Airport suspect: I had no idea officers I punched were women

Yahoo

6 days ago

A man accused of attacking police at Manchester airport has told a jury he did not know that two of the officers he knocked to the ground were women.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, claims he was acting in self-defence, or in defence of his brother, when he struck out at Pc Lydia Ward, Pc Ellie Cook and Pc Zachary Marsden.
The Greater Manchester Police officers entered the Terminal 2 car park pay station after reports that a man fitting Amaaz's description had headbutted a member of the public inside the airport just minutes before, on July 23 last year.
Prosecutors say Mr Amaaz resisted arrest and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, intervened as both subjected the officers to a 'high level of violence'.
Credit: CPS
Mr Amaaz has told Liverpool Crown Court that he feared Pc Marsden would 'batter him' to death as he said he was grabbed by the head and neck, and pushed downwards.
Cross-examining Mr Amaaz on Friday, Paul Greaney KC said: 'You were, in simple terms, resisting the attempts of these officers to arrest you?'
Mr Amaaz said: 'If those officers wanted to detain me they could have simply told me so.'
Mr Greaney said: 'What did you think they were coming in to do? To come in and murder you?'
Mr Amaaz said: 'These officers had come and literally forced me straight into the ticket machine. They didn't give me a second to think.
'My brother intervenes because this officer is trying to force me down to the ground.'
Mr Greaney told jurors that Mr Amaaz went on to kick Pc Marsden as he struggled with Mr Amaad, and that Mr Amaaz then punched Pc Cook to the face.
He said: 'You knew full well you were punching a woman.'
'No,' said Mr Amaaz.
Mr Greaney said: 'She has long blonde hair in a ponytail, I ask you to acknowledge that you knew you were delivering blows to the face of a woman?'
Mr Amaaz said: 'I didn't know that at this stage.'
Credit: CPS
Mr Greaney pointed out to Mr Amaaz that he was looking straight in the direction of Pc Ward when he then punched her to the face and broke her nose.
Mr Greaney said: 'Is it your position that Pc Ward was part of a group that was trying to murder you?'
Mr Amaaz said: 'She was part of that group. I believed Pc Marsden tried to kill me.'
Mr Greaney said: 'Do you still believe that now?'
'Yes,' said the defendant.
Mr Greaney said: 'The prosecution case is there was absolutely nothing defensive in punching that woman (Pc Ward) in the face. It was offensive and unlawful, and you were wholly out of control.'
Mr Greaney said footage showed Pc Cook approach Mr Amaaz to detain him because of his violence.
Mr Amaaz said: 'No, she literally came running at me with her hands raised towards my face. I felt any second now this officer is going to attack me and I needed to protect myself.'
Mr Greaney said: 'At your feet is an injured officer and she (Pc Cook) is coming towards you with her hands open. It was obvious she wanted to detain you and stop you committing any further violence.'
Mr Amaaz said: 'I was not looking at her face.'
Mr Greaney told the defendant that the footage showed Pc Cook 'flinching away' from a punch that was about to land.
Mr Greaney said: 'Do you agree that your violence knocked her to the ground?'
Mr Amaaz said: 'Yes, I struck her.'
The prosecutor said: 'This is the second woman you have hit to the floor within seconds.'
'Yes,' said Mr Amaaz.
Mr Greaney said: 'All of those 12 blows were against people you knew virtually from the outset were police officers, that's what you did that day?'
Mr Amaaz said: 'I didn't know from the start.
'This lunatic (Pc Marsden) booted me in the head and stamped on me,
'If that's not enough he elbowed my mother in the face with a Taser.
'And if that's not enough he punched my brother in the back of the head twice.'
Mr Amaaz agreed with Mr Greaney that following his arrest he made no comment in his police interview.
Mr Amaaz is alleged to have assaulted Pc Marsden and Pc Ward, causing them actual bodily harm.
He is also accused of the assault of emergency worker Pc Cook, and the earlier assault of a member of the public, Abdulkareem Ismaeil, at a Starbucks cafe in T2 arrivals.
Mr Amaad is alleged to have assaulted Pc Marsden, causing actual bodily harm.
Both men, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, deny the allegations.
The trial continues on Monday.
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