The student who broke the nose of a police officer in an airport brawl told ‘a bare-faced lie’ when he claimed he did not realise he was punching a woman, a court heard today.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, had ‘fabricated’ a claim of self-defence to try to justify his attack on PC Lydia Ward as well as colleagues PC Ellie Cook and PC Zachary Marsden.
Prosecutor Paul Greaney, KC, urged the jury at Liverpool Crown Court to ‘trust their eyes and ears’ about what had been revealed in the trial ‘and the truth will be clear.’
He said that Amaaz’s claim he did not know PC Ward and PC Cook were women ‘cannot exist in the real world we inhabit’.
The prosecutor said: ‘There is simply no justification for Amaaz to use any violence at all against PC Ward, let alone punch her in the face and break her nose.
‘There is simply no justification for Amaaz to use any violence to PC Cook, let alone punch and elbow her in the face.’
Mr Greaney said in his closing speech that Amaaz had acted ‘out of anger and revenge’ when he attacked a man in the Starbucks cafe at Manchester airport in July last year.
Mr Greaney said that Amaaz’s claims that victim Abdulkareem Ismaeil had threatened him was ‘an attempt to conceal the truth’ – which was that he attacked a man because he had ‘insulted his beloved mother’ on a flight from Pakistan.
A trial at Liverpool Crown Court has been shown CCTV of Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, swinging a punch at Manchester Airport – hitting PC Lydia Ward in the nose
Unarmed PC Lydia Ward, who jurors heard is heavily pregnant, last week told of being ‘terrified’ after coming under attack
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, had ‘fabricated’ a claim of self-defence to try to justify his attack on PC Lydia Ward, Liverpool Crown Court heard
He said that the three police officers who approached Amaaz in the pay station area to arrest him for the Starbucks assault moments earlier were ‘doing their duty’.
He said: ‘They were entitled to use reasonable force to effect an arrest. It was what they were entitled to do and what their duty required them to do. Any other approach would be plain wrong.
‘It is suggested that the officers who walked calmly into the pay station area were a gang of out-of-control individuals.
‘We invite you to conclude that there were experienced officers who knew through their training that Amaaz needed to be arrested.’
Mr Greaney said that the prosecution did not ‘shy away from’ the kick and stamp to Amaaz’s head by PC Marsden, but said it was ‘a distraction’.
He said: ‘What does that kick, what does that stamp, have anything to do with your task? Does it have anything to do with the question you have to answer? The defence says that they show the officers were out of control from start to finish.
‘From all you have seen from the footage and from all you have heard from these three professional officers in the witness box, you can be sure that the suggestion they were out of control is false.’
He said that Muhammed Amaad, the elder brother of Amaaz, ‘saw red and mounted a sustained attack’ on PC Marsden during the confrontation sparked by the attempted arrest.
PC Ellie Cook’s bruised face after trying to arrest Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, now 20, for allegedly assaulting a passenger at Manchester Airport
He said he had ‘pummelled’ PC Marsden, who was slumped on a bench and ‘in a position of disadvantage’.
Mr Greaney said that the brothers had not made any comment in the interview after arrest because they had not by then ‘fabricated’ their claim of self-defence.
He said: ‘They have sought to construct a false story to distract you from the truth of what occurred.’
Trial judge Neil Flewitt told the jury earlier in his legal directions that social media reporting of the trial had been ’emotive and inaccurate’ and they should put such reports out of their minds and concentrate on the evidence.
He told them: ‘You may feel sympathy, upset or even anger. Emotions of that kind must play no part in your deliberations.
‘It is essential you put them to one side as they would distract you from your solemn duty. You need an objective and dispassionate appraisal of all the evidence.’
The judge said that the prosecution’s case was that the brothers’ ‘admitted use of force’ was offensive and not defensive.
He added: ‘The brothers claim they were acting lawfully at all times either in self-defence or in defence of each other.’
Amaaz’s brother Muhammad Amaad, 26, is also on trial over the alleged attack at Manchester Airport
PC Ellie Cook, pictured being confronted by Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, dressed in light blue
The judge said that the brothers were allowed to ‘ use reasonable force ‘ in self-defence if they believed they were under attack or about to be attacked ‘even in the heat of the moment when fine judgements are difficult’.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, is charged with assaulting PC Zachary Marsden and PC Lydia Ward, causing them actual bodily harm.
He is also accused of the assault of PC Ellie Cook in the same incident at the terminal’s car park pay station and the assault of Abdulkareem Ismaeil, a member of the public, said to have taken place earlier at a nearby Starbucks cafe.
Muhammad Amaad, 26, is also alleged to have assaulted PC Marsden, causing him actual bodily harm.
The brothers, both from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, deny all the charges.
The trial continues.
