Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, accused of running over drummer Lee Rigby, 25, have denied the murder charge preferred against them.
They are accused of running over Rigby as he crossed a street in Woolwich, southeast London, in May before attacking his unconscious body with a meat cleaver and knives.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the trial is expected to last three weeks
A police officer who arrived shortly after the British soldier was hacked to death in broad daylight on a London street, told the Old Bailey court on Tuesday that she thought she too was going to be killed by one of the suspected murderers.
In comments read out by Prosecutor, Richard Whittam, the female specialist firearms officer, identified only as ‘D49’, said “I saw a flash to my right and a black male running towards with me with both hands in the air with a chopping motion’’, the officer said.
She saw what appeared to be a meat cleaver in the man’s right hand.
“I instantly thought he’s going to kill me’’, said D49, one of three firearms officers who rushed to the scene.
She said at one point, one of the two suspects was just a metre away from her police car as she unsuccessfully tried to pull out a gun before managing to hit the man with her taser stun gun.
During witness evidence in the morning, the jury also heard from a member of the public who said the two suspects had posed proudly following the attack.
Tina Nimmo was in a car driving past the scene with her daughter Michelle and baby grandchild. They stopped and Tina approached the two men.
The court heard that she shouted at onlookers to move away from the scene and described her horror at how the men, wielding a gun and knives, reacted to a bus-load of passengers pulling up opposite where the soldier’s body laid.
“They posed a bit more. Very proud of what they had in their hands’’, Tina Nimmo said in tears in the witness box.
“These chaps weren’t going anywhere. They were staying there’’, she said to a silent court room.
The court has heard several witnesses describe seeing the attack and aftermath.
The jury has heard the two suspects dragged Rigby’s body into the middle of the road for as many people to see as possible. (Reuters/NAN)
