Defendant offers no explanation for baseball bat in court

One of three defendants in the Höfðatorg case told court he went to the parking garage beneath Höfðatorg to smoke, but could not explain why he was seen entering with a baseball bat, mbl.is reported.

The man said he had not been carrying a weapon when he arrived. However, video footage showed him entering the garage with two other men and a baseball bat in his hand.

Prosecutors and defence lawyers questioned him extensively about his account and the events leading up to his entry into the garage, where the three men became involved in a fight with several people who were already there.

Recordings of WhatsApp messages were also played in court. They included an angry voice sending messages to a man whom the prosecutor said was Kareem M. M. Abufarhah. The prosecutor’s questions suggested that the dispute may have been connected to drug dealing.

Asked by Kareem’s lawyer, Ólafur Valur Guðjónsson, whether he had struck back during the fight, the man denied doing so. He said he had been stabbed with a knife and had been unable to distinguish one attacker from another. About 20 people had attacked him at the same time, he said.

Sveinn Andri Sveinsson, the lawyer for Mohamed Sayidali Ahmed, asked why the man had been holding a baseball bat when he entered the garage.

After a long silence, he replied: “I don’t know.”

Asked whether he had intended to enter the garage to settle a dispute, he again replied: “I don’t know.”

It proved difficult to obtain clear answers to several further questions. Some questions appeared to be lost in translation, while the man’s answers did not directly address what had been asked.

Sveinn Andri then said: “You can’t question this man. This is just nonsense.”