By Salma El-Sakka
Anthony Williams, 33, of Peterborough, is on trial at Cambridge Crown Court accused of stabbing 10 passengers on a London-bound LNER service that made an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, on 1 November last year. He denies 10 counts of attempted murder and four further attempted murders in earlier incidents in Peterborough and east London.
Passengers' Initial Reaction
The court heard that the first victim, Jonathan Gjoshe, was on his phone in carriage J when Williams stabbed him in what he described as a slow, deliberate motion. Gjoshe initially thought Williams was someone he knew and only realised the severity when he felt a shock and saw his arm drenched in blood. He jumped over a table and ran through the carriage shouting "I've been stabbed, run," but said some passengers remained seated, believing it was a joke.
Gjoshe spent four days in hospital and asked staff whether he would die. He told police the attacker appeared to have been drinking and showed no emotion, maintaining a "pure straight face" throughout the assault.
Another passenger, Sachin Balakrishnan, described hearing screaming and seeing people vault over seats to escape a man with a large knife who was uttering incoherent words. Balakrishnan ran until he felt pain in his right arm, initially mistaking the blood for a spilled drink.
Additional Charges
Prosecutors also allege that on 31 October Williams attempted to kill three people in Peterborough, and in the early hours of 1 November he tried to murder a teenager on a Docklands Light Railway train in east London. The court has been told the attacks themselves are not in dispute; jurors must determine whether Williams intended to kill. The trial continues.
