(Image: Telegraph & Argus)
A man has denied being at the scene of a ferocious nighttime machete attack in which one victim had his hand hacked off at the wrist.
Adam Takolia said he was in a different part of Bradford when Mohammed Zayad Khan and his nephew Mohammed Usama Khan were attacked on Tickhill Street at about 10pm on May 11 last year by armed men who arrived in several vehicles.
Takolia, 29, of no fixed abode, Bradford, and four other men all deny conspiracy to murder the pair.
During an ongoing trial at Bradford Crown Court, Takolia flatly denied being part of the attack on the two men.
Instead, he said he had been “chilling” with his brother in a car having bought some food and parked up to watch a movie on Apple CarPlay.
Earlier in the day he had been in the Midlands to watch a boxing tournament.
Takolia was challenged on his recollection of events by prosecuting barrister Stephen Wood KC, who said he had not mentioned being out with his brother when he gave a statement to the police.
Mr Wood suggested Takolia was “making up stories” to counter the prosecution case against him and that he knew his mobile phone could be traced, putting him on Tickhill Street at the time of the attack.
Takolia replied: “No. I have taken this stand to tell the truth and nothing but the truth because I am innocent man.”
He told the court that, since voluntarily handing himself in to the police and being in custody, he had been “driving myself crazy” in prison trying to remember exactly what he did and where he was on the night of the attack.
At one point in the witness box, Takolia became emotional.
He said: “This is my last chance, and this is my only chance to say everything that I remember.
“I’m being totally honest with you.”
Asked by Mr Wood if Zayad Khan, the main victim of the attack, was lying when he put Takolia in a car with another defendant at the scene of the attack, Takolia said: “I’ve been trying to think myself why this man has lied and put me somewhere that I wasn’t and accused me of doing something that I haven’t done.”
Mr Wood replied: “You say it is a deliberate lie that you were there in that car rather than him being mistaken?”
Takolia said: “I can’t say he’s the one that’s made this accusation. All I can say to you is, hand on my heart, that I had nothing to do with that, and I wasn’t there.
“I can’t say if he’s lying or if he’s mistakenly identified me, but what I will say is I definitely wasn’t there.”
Takolia said he had urged the police to check neighbours’ CCTV around his home, and phone data, to confirm his movements on the night of the attack.
Mr Wood suggested that Takolia had changed his account to fit in with mobile phone evidence that showed calls to his handset in the aftermath of the machete attack.
Takolia said: “No, not at all.”
Mr Wood said: “You know where you really were, don’t you, Mr Takolia?”
Takolia: “No, not at all.”
Mr Wood: “You were in that car behind [the other defendant].”
Takolia: “On my heart, I had nothing to do with that. I’m an innocent man of what I’m being accused of.”
Mr Wood: “Did you have a machete?”
Takolia: “Most definitely not.”
Mr Wood: “Did you take part in chopping off Zayad Khan’s hand?”
Takolia: “Most definitely not.”
Mr Wood: “Were you the one shouting ‘Kill the mother*** er’?”
Takolia: “I definitely was not. A hundred per cent.”
Mr Wood: “Because he recognised your voice. Did you take part in the assault on Usamah?”
Takolia: “Your Honour, I had nothing to do with anything that I’m getting accused of, and I wasn’t there.”
Takolia denies conspiracy to murder Mohammed Zayad Khan and Mohammed Usama Khan along with Mohammed Waqqas Khan, 27, of Folkestone Street, Bradford, Rahees Khan, 42, of no fixed abode but formerly of Granton Street, Bradford, Hanzalah Saladin, 27, of no fixed abode, Bradford, and a fourth man who cannot be named for legal reasons, all
In addition, they all deny conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm to both alleged victims.
Alice Dobson, 30, of Nether Hall Road, Baildon, and Rahees Khan deny perverting the course of justice by obtaining and disseminating confidential information held by West Yorkshire Police.
The trial continues.