Criminology student Nasen Saadi said under caution ‘You haven’t found a murder weapon, you haven’t found the trousers, the bag’
The Croydon student accused of murdering Amie Gray in a brutal knife attack on a Bournemouth beach in May told the police that he was not responsible and he would not “attack someone for no reason”, a court was told.
‘Mistaken identity’: Nasen Saadi, filmed being interviewed by police in May
Nasen Saadi, 20, from Purley, is on trial charged with the murder of 34-year-old Amie Gray at Durley Chine Beach, West Undercliff Promenade, on May 24, and the attempted murder of Leanne Miles.
As the murder trial at Winchester Crown Court entered its second week yesterday and the prosecution case reached its conclusion, it was announced to court by Saadi’s defence lawyer, Charles Sherrard KC, that he would not be taking the witness box to give evidence.
“It turns out the defendant has nothing to say. Odd, isn’t it?” Sarah Jones KC, prosecuting, told the jury.
The jury has instead been shown video footage of Saadi’s police interview from May 31.
Asked by detectives if he had carried out the attack, Saadi said: “I am not responsible and I have no reason to attack someone for no reason.”
Wearing a grey jumper with his arms crossed, the defendant claimed it was a case of “mistaken identity” after detectives showed him CCTV from the Bournemouth promenade around the time of the attack. That footage, in poor lighting, showed a man wearing a grey hoodie.
In an earlier part of the same interview, read to the jury, Saadi told detectives the evidence they had presented was “circumstantial”.
Saadi, who was studying for a criminology degree at Greenwich University, told the detectives: “You haven’t found a murder weapon, you haven’t found the trousers, the bag.”
Murder victim: Amie Gray was stabbed multiple times
He added: “I am wrongly accused of mistaken identity, mistakes can happen and I am not responsible. I think just because someone is wearing the same clothes is circumstantial.”
When asked where he was at the time of the attack, Saadi replied “No comment”.
When asked if he was the person in the CCTV footage of the incident, he replied: “Beaches are popular places, many people, CCTV shows there were many people walking, it’s not just one person.”
When asked if he was that person, he replied: “No.”
Home Office pathologist Dr Basil Purdue told the trial that Gray died as a result of 10 knife wounds, including to her chest and arm, and one to her heart. Miles suffered 20 knife injuries.
Paramedics described finding Gray to be unconscious, unresponsive, not breathing and “cold to the touch”, the jury heard. Following CPR, the football coach from Poole was pronounced dead at the scene.
Saadi has pleaded guilty to failing to give his phone number to police.
He denies the charges and the trial continues.
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The defendant is clearly takingh the p*ss; how does he think this helps his case?