A Palestine Action activist who struck a police officer on the back with a sledgehammer has told a court that it 'seemed reasonable to do something' at the time. Samuel Corner, 23, admitted bringing the tool down on Sergeant Kate Evans after hearing 'someone screaming' and fearing a friend was being injured by security guards during a raid at Israel-based defence firm Elbit Systems' site near Bristol on August 6, 2024.
Court Proceedings
At Woolwich Crown Court on Thursday, the jury heard that Corner had hit the officer after being sprayed with Pava spray, without shouting a warning, and that the officer had not seen him coming. When prosecutor Deanna Heer KC asked if he thought striking Sgt Evans was over the top, Corner acknowledged it would have been had he considered the consequences.
Ms Heer questioned: 'She posed no threat to you at all, did she?' Corner replied: 'Well no, not to me.' The prosecutor continued: 'Did you hit her because you thought she was a security guard and she was complicit with Elbit?' Corner answered: 'No.' Asked if he thought she was 'fair game', he again responded: 'No.'
Ms Heer asked: 'Do you agree that, whatever you may have thought, it was completely unreasonable to hit Sgt Evans with a sledgehammer?' Corner said: 'I mean it seemed reasonable to do something and I had to act quickly.' When pressed if it was over the top, he added: 'Yes, if I'd thought about what that was going to do, then yes.'
Defence Arguments
Tom Wainwright, defending, asked: 'The prosecution's case is that your actions were unreasonable, what do you say to that?' Corner replied: 'I disagree.' The court heard Corner believed one of his female friends was being 'seriously hurt' and he acted to 'protect' her, though he now accepted Sgt Evans was not injuring anyone before he struck her.
Corner previously told the court he 'would never want to seriously hurt anyone' and denied the attack was part of a plan to use violence. At an earlier hearing, Sgt Evans told jurors she believed her spine could have been 'shattered' and feared she might have been 'paralysed'.
Co-defendants and Charges
Alongside Corner, Charlotte Head, 30, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, are on trial accused of criminal damage. Corner, a former linguistics and philosophy student at Oxford University, also denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Sgt Evans.
In a character reference, Corner's grandfather described him as a 'gentle soul' who 'cares deeply about the injustices in the world' and 'finds any form of violence abhorrent'.
Testimony of Leona Kamio
On Thursday afternoon, Leona Kamio began her evidence, stating there was no plan to harm Elbit's security guards beyond shouting, and that training from Palestine Action on direct action did not include violence. She said she felt 'terrified' and 'very nervous' before the incident, describing Elbit as a 'very evil company'. Kamio, a former nursery teacher and previously signed to Island Records as part of the band Salen, added: 'I still felt like what we were doing was necessary... to stop people from suffering.'
Kamio, originally from Swansea, said she was tasered during the incident and described one security guard as seemingly 'up for a fight' and 'psychotic'. She added: 'I thought maybe they'd been told to teach us a lesson because we were protesting for Palestine.'
Details of the Raid
The trial heard the defendants crashed into shutters outside the factory using a prison van driven by Head as 'a battering ram'. Once inside, they used sledgehammers and crowbars to destroy computers, drones, and other equipment, and sprayed red paint on walls and floors with fire extinguishers.
All defendants deny the charges, and the trial continues. The public gallery was nearly full with supporters, some wearing keffiyeh scarves. Outside the court, three people were arrested after conditions were imposed on a protest, including a ban on amplified sound equipment and a specified area. A 71-year-old woman and a 37-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of breaching conditions, and a 25-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and inciting racial hatred. They remain in custody.
