'Superhuman' knifeman defied gas and batons

Alderrahim El-Harti, who was barefoot and wearing white Islamic dress, fought off nine police officers, a police rottweiler, numerous baton blows to the body and the effects of two cans of CS gas.

The tall, stockily-built man barely flinched as he carried on walking down the street chanting loudly with a 12-inch silver carving knife raised at shoulder-height ready to plunge like a dagger.

El-Harti's middle-of-the-night march towards Sheffield city centre only ended when an officer managed to smack him over the head with his baton after an attempt to run him over with a police van failed.

Pc John Bowerman told Sheffield Crown Court El-Harti had a fixed stare ahead and was breathing heavily as he resisted all attempts by nine officers to stop him.

Said the policeman: "He seemed to have superhuman strength and resistance."

El-Harti, 42, of Meersbrook, Sheffield, denies wounding PC Matthew Duffy with intent and attempting to wound PC Mark Adams with intent.

In a rare case, the prosecution called evidence to prove he was

not guilty of the offences through reason of insanity.

Prosecutor Paul Watson QC said the circumstances of the attack were so unusual two psychiatrists were consulted and they concluded the defendant was suffering from a serious mental illness and was not responsible for his actions.

The jury has to decide whether El-Harti was legally responsible. If not he will be acquitted on grounds of insanity.

He was spotted walking down a road with the knife near his home after 4am on Monday, June 9 last year.

PC Duffy said nine officers had given him repeated warnings and tried to disarm him by hitting him with their batons.

When that failed the contents of two cans of CS gas were squirted into his face. But he merely blinked, shook his face and carried on walking, singing his chants ever more loudly.

When dog handler Pc Adams turned up with his rottweiler, El-Harti tried to stab the dog which backed off and would not bite him. "He just saw it as another target," said the officer.

He only gave up when officers rained blows on his head, rendering him unconscious. PC Duffy admitted in the witness box that "potentially lethal force" was used to subdue him.

Pc Adams said: "He was continuously chanting in a foreign language. It was almost like a religious chant. I heard the word 'Allah'."

El-Harti kept lashing out with his knife at the dog which was barking. Two or three officers sprayed CS gas in the defendant's face.

"He had virtually no reaction to it at all," said Pc Adams. "The spray was dripping from his face. It had no effect."

Pc Adams had to run to escape El-Harti, who tried to plunge the knife into his back. He shouted to a colleague in a van: "Run him over, we have go to stop him somehow."

Pc Karen Gunnill then rammed El-Harti with her van but he stayed on his feet and then dived on Pc Duffy, who had stumbled on the pavement.

El-Harti stabbed at the officer but his body armour protected him. Fearing for his colleague's life PC Adams ran over and struck El-Harti on the head with his baton with all his might.

Other officers attacked him with their batons and managed to restrain him.

Pc Davis Nash described how the defendant's eyes were "transfixed". He said: "He seemed to be trying to stab anyone in front of him."

The defence offered no evidence but asked the jury to acquit on grounds of insanity.

The trial continues.