The widow of soldier Lee Rigby left court in tears as jurors heard witnesses' accounts of how he was run over and attacked with a meat cleaver and knives.
Prosecutor Richard Whittam, QC, read statements made by people who saw the Fusilier's alleged murder near Woolwich barracks in south east London on May 22.
Two men, Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, are on trial at the Old Bailey, London, and deny murdering Fusilier Rigby.They are also accused of attempting to murder a police officer and conspiracy to murder a police officer.
Saraj Miah, who was seen in a CCTV clip talking with a shopkeeper near the scene, said after Fusilier Rigby was run over, two armed men got out of the car. One of the two attackers pointed a gun at him when he told them not to kill the soldier. He said: "I thought the two black men with knives were going to kill him. I told them not to kill him. They did not listen."
One attacker slashed Fusilier Rigby's throat while the other stabbed him, the court heard. "The black man in the passenger seat with knives in both his hands stabbed the fallen man six times in his chest."
He described the man who had been driving the car walking around "as if nothing had happened".
Mr Miah said the two men then "threw the body on the left lane of the road". "I was very shocked by the incident," he added. "I could not sleep for two weeks."
Fusilier Rigby's widow Rebecca left the oak-panelled courtroom in tears as the statements were read.
Shopkeeper Ibrahim Elidemir shut himself, his girlfriend and two customers inside his store when he saw one of the attackers brandishing a knife after the crash, the court heard.
In his statement, he said: "The incident has affected me very badly. It made me feel very sad. I was very frightened and very scared at the time."
Amanda Bailey, whose statement was also read by Mr Whittam, described her shock at seeing the attack on the soldier, whom she said looked "like a young man coming home from college".
The trial continues.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article