Murder witness describes how he disarmed man who stabbed someone five times

A murder witness put his army training to good use when he ran after a man who had just stabbed someone five times, caught him and disarmed him, a court heard on Monday.

He even dodged him when he flung the knife in his direction. 

The Sierra Leone national took the witness stand in the compilation of evidence against 28-year-old Ali Mahy Ezzo Saeed, a Sudanese national charged with murdering a 21-year-old Egyptian in Triq Felicjan Bilocca, Marsa on July 24.

That Sunday afternoon, the witness went to Marsa to buy food from an African shop when he saw the accused “throwing a punch at the deceased”.

Both men were strangers to him but the minute he saw the accused pull out a knife, his military instinct kicked in.

“As an ex-military soldier, when I see a knife I know what it means," the witness, Sesai Abdulla, explained, speaking in English while an Arab-speaking interpreter translated proceedings to the accused.

After “the first two stabbings on the back,” there were two other blows on the victim’s chest and a fifth one on the right side of the abdomen, recalled Abdulla, gesturing to explain the location of the wounds.

He dropped his foodstuffs and called the police but there was...