Afghan asylum seeker, 32, ‘who attacked random members of the public with a knife after demanding to know their nationality was fuelled by desire to kill English people’

Afghan asylum seeker, 32, ‘who attacked random members of the public with a knife after demanding to know their nationality was fuelled by desire to kill English people’ 

An Afghan asylum seeker who allegedly attacked random members of the public with a knife was ‘fuelled’ by a desire to kill English people, a court heard. 

Samiulahaq Akbari, 32, is accused of swinging a 10ins kitchen knife at three ‘total strangers’ within a 10-minute period in Thornton Heath and Croydon in south London after ‘demanding to know their nationality’. 

Jurors at the Old Bailey in London were told he approached the first alleged victim, Nicholas Speight, in a Tesco Extra in Thornton Heath on January 8, tapping him on the shoulder. 

After Mr Speight confirmed he was English, Akbari allegedly ‘took a powerful swing at him’ with the blade.