Jurors hear witness accounts in UK soldier killing

LONDON (AP) Witnesses who saw the murder of an off-duty British soldier on a London street Monday described how two suspects repeatedly stabbed the victim with knives and a meat cleaver in a frenzied attack.

Prosecutors were presenting evidence and witness accounts in the trial of Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, accused of murdering soldier Lee Rigby in May. Both British-born suspects deny the charges.

One witness, Gill Hucks, said she saw two men taking turns to stab 25-year-old Rigby.

"What I saw then I can only describe as a horrific frenzied attack on the man on the floor by two knife-wielding crazy men," she said in a statement, read out by prosecutor Richard Whittam.

Another witness, Thomas Seymour, said he saw one suspect stab at the soldier's torso "10 or 20 times." He said he saw the other suspect attack the victim's head and believed he was trying to decapitate Rigby.

The soldier's widow left the court in tears as the accounts were read out in London's Central Criminal Court.

Earlier, Whittam told the jury that Adebolajo and Adebowale first ran Rigby over with a car, then dragged his motionless body out to the middle of the road so that others could see.

Witness Saraj Miah said in a statement that he tried to stop the men but was ignored.

"I thought that the two black men with knives were going to kill him. I told them not to kill him. They did not listen to me," his statement read.

Some details of the case could not be released due to imposed reporting restrictions.

The defense case is expected in the coming weeks.