A man tried to run over a Muslim woman and a 12-year-old schoolgirl as revenge for an “ISIS-inspired” bomb attack at Parsons Green tube station, a court heard.
Paul Moore, 21, is alleged to have attempted to kill Zaynab Hussein with his vehicle on 20 September 2017 as he admitted to the court that he was the driver.
The jury heard how Ms Hussein was hit once and subsequently driven over again straight after on Acer Close in Leicester just after 8am, while the defendant allegedly laughed.
A jury of five women and seven men at Nottingham Crown Court were told on Wednesday that Moore allegedly tried to kill Ms Hussein “purely because of the colour of her skin” and her “perceived Islamic faith”.
The prosecution said four other passengers were in the car with Moore during the incident, and they persistently asked him to let them out of the vehicle afterwards.
The News & Star reports that prosecutor Jonathan Straw said to the courts: “(Moore) carefully and deliberately, in an act of calculated evil, aligned his wheels so the front and back wheels were over her (Ms Hussein).
“He did not know her. He tried to kill her purely because of the colour of her skin and because of her perceived Islamic faith as she was wearing a hijab.
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“It is no coincidence, we say, that there had been a bomb at Parsons Green Tube station in London, said to have been carried out by sympathisers of Islamic State.
“She had received severe fractures to her pelvis, her spine, and one of the bones in her leg was broken.
“Having deliberately, we say, tried to kill Zaynab Hussein, the defendant then drove at a second victim – a 12-year-old schoolgirl.
“He did not hit her, he brushed her, but it is only by the grace of God and nothing more that she was saved.”
Mr Straw said that Moore did not intend on offering a defence, adding: “It may well be he has no defence. He admits he was the driver.”
In a recorded interview played to the court, Reece Bishop, who was a passenger in the car during the incident, told police: “He was just driving like a maniac.
“I thought we were going to be dead. He said ‘I feel like running someone over. Anyone.’
“It all happened so fast. He turned the steering wheel and he just hits her out of the blue.”
On the recorded interview with police, Mr Bishop said Moore was laughing as he drove directly at Ms Hussein.
Moore, who is from Leicester, denies attempted murder, causing grievous bodily harm with intent and dangerous driving.
The trial is ongoing.
