Lee Rigby murder trial hears how police officer feared for her life

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/03/legally-sensitive

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A female police officer came within a metre of being attacked by one of the men who minutes earlier had mutilated the British soldier Lee Rigby in a south London street, a jury has heard.

The police markswoman said she feared for her life as the alleged attacker, Michael Adebolajo, 28, rushed towards her making a chopping motion with his hands while carrying a machete. The two attackers were shot by police.

The jury heard that Adebolajo told paramedics treating his gunshot wounds that he wished the bullets had killed him.

Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, 22, deny murdering the soldier and deny charges of conspiring to and attempting to murder a police officer.

The Old Bailey heard that the woman officer was in an armed response vehicle called to the scene of the attack on the soldier in Woolwich, south London, in May 2013. She said the attacker came so close she could "see the whites of his eyes".

In a statement read to the jury the officer, known only as D49, said she was left defenceless as Adebolajo rushed at her. The officer was driving the car containing her and two armed colleagues. She had a gun in a holster on her leg, but a door panel that jutted out meant she could not reach her weapon in time as the machete-wielding man closed in on her.

The officer was saved when an armed colleague in the rear seat, known as E48, opened fire out of the vehicle's window, with the attacker one metre away. The woman officer managed to fire her Taser, whose barbs carrying electrical current cut into the man.

In her statement, D49 said: "I saw a black male running at me waving both his hands in the air in a chopping motion. In his right hand I saw what I call a meat cleaver or a machete. I instantly thought: 'He's going to kill me.'"

Footage played to the jury showed the shot propelled Adebolajo away from the police car and several feet across the road. The three armed officers left the car to "neutralise" Adebolajo. But then they realised his alleged accomplice, Adebowale, had a gun.

D49 said she saw the suspect hold a silver gun, pointing in her direction: "I thought: 'Oh my god, he's going to shoot me.' I feared for my life."

The jury was told an armed officer, E42, opened fire, hitting Adebowale, who dropped the weapon. Armed officer E48, who testified in person, said two bursts of fire were needed to stop Adebowale.

It is alleged that in video shown to the jury, he continues to hold the gunafter he is first shot.

The 22-year-old was shot in the leg and stomach, and his thumb was blown off.

E48, the first officer to shoot, said he opened fire to save his colleague's life: "The second he started sprinting at us still in possession of that knife I made the decsion to fire."

After the suspects were shot paramedics were allowed to the scene. One of them, Nicholas Goh, said he immediately saw that Rigby, who witnesses say was hacked around the head repeatedly and stabbed in the torso, was dead. Video seen by the jury showed the soldier lying in the road in a foetal position, after his attackers had dragged him there.

Goh said Adebolajo told him: "Please let me lay here. I don't want anyone to die. I just want the soldiers out of my country."

In a statement read by prosecutor Oliver Glasgow, Goh described how Adebolajo spoke in a "very polite and softly-spoken voice" as he said: "Your government is all wrong. I did it for my God. I wish the bullets had killed me so I can join my friends and family."

The suspect continued talking about his belief in sharia law and how "British soldiers deserve to die" for "raping and killing women in my land" for the entirety of the ambulance journey to King's College Hospital, the jury heard.

"He was very vocal about his love of the Muslim religion and his hatred of British soldiers," according to another paramedic, Stephen Berry, whose statement was read to court.

Adebolajo was placed under armed guard in hospital. The day after the attack on Rigby, on 23 May, Police Constable Melita Vejnovic told the court Adebolajo had told her: "My intention was never to harm any civilians.

"There were women and children around, my intention was to hurt military only. He was in his kit, in his uniform, coming in and out of the barracks."

Jurors were told that Adebolajo disputes saying the last sentence.

The court heard that Adebolajo dictated a second statement to the constable that read: "The reason that we are fighting is because we believe in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

"We hope that one day Great Britain will replace those corrupt politicians with men or women who truly care about the security of their citizens by withdrawing from the affairs of Muslims including their lands."

The trial continues.

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