The man charged with murdering Abdul Deghayes in Brighton told a jury this morning: “I accept that it was my responsibility for causing his death.”
Daniel Macleod, 37, said: “Throughout that whole incident I never saw any blood although I’ve seen the pictures showing how awful his injuries were.
“I don’t know how he sustained all those injuries but I accept that they were all caused in that two-minute window. It happened very quickly.
“It was an unpredictable situation. It unfolded very quickly. I accept that I caused all those injuries in that short space of time.
“I didn’t mean to hurt him or to cause him any serious injury. The whole of this situation is a dreadful situation.”
In cross-examination at Southwark Crown Court today (Monday 28 September), Adam Feest, prosecuting, asked: “How many times did you stab an unarmed man.”
Macleod, of Gipsy Road, south London, said: “I don’t know.”
Mr Feest said: “Did you stab an unarmed man who was lying on his back on the floor?”
Macleod said: “No, Mr Feest. That’s very harsh. I’m not capable of such a barbaric act.”
Mr Feest said: “Did you stab him while he was running away?”
Macleod said: “No.”
Mr Feest said: “In eight separate stabbing motions, you injured Abdul Deghayes.”
Macleod said: “I have to accept that … I feel awful about that. I feel awful about the whole situation.
“I went get a breathing space to run off. That’s just barbaric, disgusting. I feel awful about it.
“It was survival of the fittest – self-preservation (but) I didn’t have time to review the situation or process my reactions.”
Mr Feest said: “You chose to stab him in the leg rather than threaten him with the knife?”
Macleod said: “I was at a disadvantage.”
Mr Feest said: “Even when you had the knife in your hand?”
Macleod said: “They ambushed me to rob me. I only stabbed him once knowingly and when I had that chance to escape, I took that chance and ran off.
“He was possessed. He was ‘on one’. It (stabbing) didn’t seem to have any effect on him He was smothering me. I just wanted to get him off me.
“I was just scared. I wasn’t thinking rationally. I didn’t try to stab him above the waist or in the face. I didn’t try to stab him in a dangerous area. I didn’t try to cut his throat.
“I was just trying to get him to leave me alone.”
Judge Nicholas Hilliard said: “What made you think that he was possessed and frenzied?”
Macleod said: “His eyes were dilated. I just remember him being aggressive and alpha, attacking me the whole time.
“He was trying to overpower me to stop me getting the knife. When the knife dropped, it was a panic for me trying to stop him getting the knife.
“When I got it, he didn’t retreat. He tried to get the knife back off me. He was in my personal space, trying to dominate me and grab the knife.
“My fear was if he got the knife, I would have been in fatal trouble.”
Mr Feest said: “Did he land any blows on you?”
Macleod said: “No.”
Mr Feest said: “When you were grappling, did the knife ever go into you?”
Macleod said: “No.”
Mr Feest said: “How come it never goes near to you?”
Macleod said: “I was lucky. I was faster.”
Mr Feest said: “Stronger?”
Macleod said: “Maybe. He tried to rob me and it just spiralled out of control.”
Mr Feest said that Macleod had told a police nurse that he bruised easily yet in the whole struggle he suffered just one bruise at the top of his left thigh.
Macleod said: “I’d had more life experience than him and I wasn’t under the influence of a cocktail of drugs. He was intoxicated by a whole load of things.
“I hadn’t. I’d just had a couple of drinks and smoked a spliff.”
Mr Feest said: “Even if you were at a disadvantage, by the time you’d got the knife you were at an advantage?”
Macleod said: “Yes.”
Mr Feest said: “And that’s when you stabbed him?”
Macleod said: “Yes.”
Mr Feest said: “Eight times?”
Macleod said that some of the injuries could have happened as the pair grappled on the ground, trying to retrieve the knife. Which had been dropped.
He added: “I felt at a disadvantage the whole time even if I briefly had an advantage in hindsight.
“I only ever felt like I was prey and they were predators.”
Mr Feest said: “Did you think that stabbing him in the leg would put him on the floor?”
Macleod said: “No … I’m ashamed that I had to stab someone to get away.”
The trial continues.
