Man accused of murder ‘had been hearing voices’
A MAN accused of murdering a 21-year-old during a night out in Cardiff has told a jury he felt “sad” when he heard someone had been seriously injured in the incident.
Momodoulamin Saine, 28, accepts producing a knife but denies murdering Asim Khan in St Mary Street last year on the grounds he was acting in self-defence.
A court heard he had been “hearing voices” for around three years.
Asim Khan died in hospital after being stabbed at around 4.50am on July 21 last year, a jury at Newport Crown Court has been told.
Giving evidence in his own defence yesterday, Saine said he felt “paranoid and anxious all the time”.
David Elias QC, defending, asked Saine about his mental health. The defendant said: “I had been hearing voices for quite a while.”
Mr Elias asked: “For how long?” Saine replied: “About three years, I would say.”
Saine also admitted he had taken a knife out with him in Cardiff “several times” before July 21 last year.
The court heard that on July 20 last year Saine had gone to Soda bar in Mill Lane, where a stranger knocked his drink over. He then went to Kiwis and later caught a taxi, before getting out of the cab to talk to a friend. Saine was seen with a man outside Fantasy Bar and Lounge in St Mary Street.
Prosecutors suggested CCTV from the area, from around 4.35am on July 21, showed Saine doing karate moves and a “jumping kick”.
Saine said he went up to Hamza Khan – he did not know his name at the time. The defendant said: “He was swearing at me. He spat at me.”
Saine said he did not want to turn his back on the brothers. He described going to the floor.
The defendant said he ran to Wood Street and approached a police van. Saine said he went past the Prince of Wales pub, sat down and made a call.
But after realising he no longer had his house key on him, he said he returned to St Mary Street to look for it.
He denied looking for a confrontation with the Khan brothers.
Mr Elias asked: “Why did you want to speak to them?”
The defendant said he wanted to speak to the brothers about a drink being spilled in Soda bar and an incident outside McDonald’s.
He said the two men came towards him and he went backwards down the street. Saine told the court both men started punching him. “I fell on the floor,” he said.
He said he did not have the knife in his hand before he went to the floor. He told the court it was in his waistband.
Mr Elias asked: “What were you thinking in those seconds?”
Saine replied: “I panicked at the time.”
Mr Elias asked: “What did you think was going to happen to you?”
He replied: “I thought I was going to be seriously injured or killed.”
Asked what he did next, the defendant replied: “I pulled the knife out.”
Saine said he could not see well at the time.
Questioned about what he did with the knife, he said: “I waved it.”
Mr Elias asked: “How were you holding the knife in your hand?”
He said he was holding it by the handle with the blade coming out of the top of his hand.
Saine told the court he was being punched and kicked on the floor while that happened.
Asked what he wanted to happen, he said: “To scare them off.”
He told the court a bouncer came over as Hamza Khan and Asim Khan were punching and kicking him and he managed to get to his feet.
He said he did not know if he had injured anyone, but noticed a bleeding cut on his hand. Following the incident, he said it was only later he realised someone had been seriously injured – at around 10.30am or 11am that day.
Saine, of Bishopston Road, Ely, Cardiff, denies murder, while Asim Khan’s brother Hamza Khan, 24, from Corporation Road in Grangetown, denies attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm with intent on Saine.