Bournemouth murder accused thought victim was Taliban agent, court hears

Thomas Roberts was fatally stabbed on a night out

An Afghan asylum seeker fatally stabbed a man in a street after wrongly thinking he was an agent of the Taliban trying to kill him, a court has heard.

Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai said the hardline group, who killed his parents and left him for dead in Afghanistan, had "people everywhere".

He has admitted manslaughter after twice stabbing Thomas Roberts, 21, in Bournemouth in March 2022.

However, he denies a charge of murder at Salisbury Crown Court.

Police cordoned off part of Old Christchurch Road and Horseshoe Common

Previously the court heard Mr Roberts, from Bournemouth, was killed when he tried to act as a "peacemaker" in a dispute over an e-scooter.

He was immediately stabbed when he slapped Mr Abdulrahimzai in the face, a prosecutor said.

The defendant told the court the Taliban killed his parents for selling alcohol and because his father had worked for NATO forces.

'Captured and tortured'

Breaking down in the witness box, he described how he returned home to find his parents killed by bombs planted by the Taliban.

He continued: "They captured me and I was tortured. They beat me up with rifle butts but also used knives.

"I was thrown by the side of the road. They thought I was dead."

The court heard Mr Abdulrahimzai fled to Europe via Pakistan, Iran and Turkey, arriving in the UK in 2019 and telling a Home Office interviewer he was 14 years old.

However, the court has determined he is 21.

The jury heard the defendant took up cricket, boxing and bare knuckle street fighting in the UK, earning £100 for a 10-minute fight.

Mr Abdulrahimzai, who lived at a hostel in Poole, said he carried a knife because of his experiences in Afghanistan and also because of having being attacked in Bournemouth.

He said he did not intend to kill or seriously harm Mr Roberts when he stabbed him twice in Old Christchurch Road in the early hours of 12 March.

"He slapped me and he punched me in my face," the defendant told the jury.

"I was too scared for my life. I was thinking they're the people who are trying to kill me.

"These terrorism group. They have everywhere people.

"There's been multiple times in my life I've been threatened by Afghans that I'm going to get stabbed."

The trial continues.