A Moroccan asylum seeker was convicted of murder, Thursday, by a UK court after stabbing a pensioner to death and attempting to kill his housemate. 45-year-old Ahmed Alid stabbed 70-year-old Terence Carney six times in the street in Hartlepool, northeast England, on October 15, 2023. He also attacked his housemate Javed Nouri and assaulted two police officers, Daily Mail reported. While Nouri survived the attack, Carney died, surrendering to his wounds after he was stabbed six times in the chest, abdomen and back. Alid was found guilty of murder, attempted murder and assault. Alid who said that he had acted because of the war on Gaza, was arrested near the murder scene with a knife in his waistband. «He said he had wanted to kill them because of the conflict in Gaza and to further his desire that Palestine would be free from the Zionists, by which he meant Israel», prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford said, according to the Times of Israel. Sandiford said Alid had described Carney as an «innocent victim», but that he had been killed «because Britain had created the Zionist entity -Israel- and should make it leave». In court Alid recalled the stabbing of the old man, saying that «the stress 'made me lose my temper, [I] lost my mind, I didn't know what I was doing». He recalls that after stabbing his housemate, Alid was left bleeling from his hand and went out to look for a clinic. While walking in the street, he shouted «free Palestine», to which Carney responded: «go back to your country», Alid claimed. Alid said he came to Europe in 2007. He lived in Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, and Austria, before arriving in the UK in 2020 via a ferry. He was later arrested by police as he did not have the correct papers and he applied for asylum. Alid will be sentenced on May 17.
