Accused denies violence in Höfðatorg car park attack

Qossay Ali Yahya Alsadi, one of the defendants in the Höfðatorg case, has denied assaulting anyone in the car park where he is accused of taking part in an attempted murder in March, mbl.is reports.

Qossay was the second defendant to testify in court on Tuesday. He gave evidence by video link from Jordan. He is from Palestine, as is Kareem M. M. Abufarhah, who testified earlier in the day.

An interpreter was present and translated the prosecutor’s questions. Qossay appeared to misunderstand some of the questions, and it was at times difficult to obtain clear answers.

The case concerns a serious assault in the Höfðatorg car park, where a man was hit by a vehicle, struck and kicked, and stabbed in the buttocks with a bladed weapon.

The prosecutor showed security camera footage from the car park. It shows a man whom the prosecutor identified as Qossay striking the victim with a club after he had been hit by the vehicle. Qossay denied being the man seen using the club.

He said he had not noticed any violence in the car park. He had been the wrong man in the wrong place, he said, and got into a vehicle when he left Höfðatorg.

Qossay said he had arrived in Iceland relatively recently when the incident occurred. He described the situation in the car park as chaotic and said he did not know the men with whom the group became involved in the confrontation.

He said he had not been carrying a weapon and had not seen anyone else carrying one. Asked about his relationship with the other defendants, Qossay said he and Kareem had been acquaintances for a long time. He said he did not know Mohamed and was not acquainted with the three men who came to the car park to meet those already there.