Caught on CCTV, moment Tube attacker ‘tried to behead stranger’
CaPTUrED on CCTV, the shocking moment a Somali man yelling ‘This is for Syria’ allegedly tried to behead a Tube passenger. Muhiddin Mire hacked the stranger’s throat with a bread knife, a jury heard yesterday.
Innocent traveller Lyle Zimmerman, 56, was seriously wounded but survived because Mire, 30, just missed major blood vessels.
Jurors were shown pictures of the fanatic dragging Mr Zimmerman to the ground in the busy ticket hall at Leytonstone station in east London last December before he attacked four more people.
Cameras caught him kneeling on Mr Zimmerman’s back, sawing at his neck with the blunt blade. The bloody rampage was only halted when police repeatedly Tasered him, the old bailey heard.
as blood poured from Mr Zimmerman’s neck a junior doctor heading home treated his wounds.
The trial heard that unemployed Muslim taxi driver Mire, who had a history of mental health issues, was ‘motivated by revenge’ for britain’s bombing of Syria.
a passer-by filmed him yelling: ‘Do you know, if you live in Syria, they bomb you … If you’re a Muslim you get bombed.’
another heroic Tube user confronted him, shouting: ‘You ain’t no Muslim, bruv’ after Mire told onlookers he was doing it for ‘my Syrian brothers’, the court heard.
a video of the exchange later went viral. Police checking Mire’s phone found images of Islamic State terrorists cutting the throats of hostages. Mire, of Leytonstone, admits wounding Mr Zimmerman
‘This is for my Syria brothers’
with intent and four counts of attempted wounding. he denies attempted murder.
Jonathan rees, QC, prosecuting, said: ‘It appears that the defendant was motivated by revenge for what was occurring in Syria.’
The court heard that Mire was on benefits at the time, having arrived from Somalia as a boy with his brother and sister. before the attack he had told a doctor he was being followed by MI5 and MI6. Mire was detained in hospital in 2006 after a psychotic episode.
The Uber driver gave up work because of delusions, panic attacks and depression, jurors were told. his GP referred him to hospital after he claimed he was being persecuted for his religion but Mire missed the appointment on December 1 – the attack was three days before the re-arranged session.
The court heard Mire’s brother had bought him a plane ticket to Somalia for the following day. Mire was said to have selected Mr Zimmerman at random, having seen the ‘distinctive figure’ carrying an amplifier and a mandolin.
Mr rees said: ‘The defendant attacked him from behind. The attack was wholly unprovoked. when Mr Zimmerman was lying motionless and defenceless on the floor of the ticket hall, the defendant crouched over him and quite deliberately began to cut Mr Zimmerman’s throat with a knife.
‘although he suffered three jag- ged wounds to the front of his neck, none of them caused any damage to any of the major blood vessels.’
Mire fled through barriers and tried to stab a man then returned and lashed out again before running at a policeman with a knife. he was Tasered but tried to stab more people, shouting: ‘This is for my Syria brothers, I’m going to spill your blood.’
he dropped the knife after being shot again with the stun gun.
The trial continues.