Palestine activist swung sledgehammer at officer ‘to protect raid participant’ at Bristol arms factory
Sergeant Kate Evans suffered a fractured spine
Last updated 18 hours ago
A Palestine Action activist accused of injuring a police officer at the UK site of an Israel-based defence firm has said he swung a sledgehammer at her to “protect” a fellow participant who he thought was being “seriously hurt”, a court has heard.
Samuel Corner said he brought the tool down on Police Sergeant Kate Evans after he heard “someone screaming” and feared they were being injured by security guards during the raid at the Elbit Systems site near Bristol on August 6 2024.
The 23-year-old told jurors at Woolwich Crown Court today that he “would never want to seriously hurt anyone”, and denied it was part of a plan to use violence against people during the raid.
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 over the incident.
Corner, a former linguistics and philosophy student at Oxford University, faces a further charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Sgt Evans, which he denies.
In his evidence, Corner told jurors the intention of the raid was to “shut Elbit down” so it could no longer make weapons from the site.
Asked by defence barrister Tom Wainwright what he intended to do on the day of the incident, he said: “We intended to destroy weapons and things needed to make weapons which we believed were going to be used to cause death and destruction.”
Asked what he thought the weapons were being used for, he said: “To cause death and devastation. Kill people, injure people.”
Jurors previously heard that Corner hit Sgt Evans in the back with the sledgehammer as she was on her knees trying to arrest Rogers.
Mr Wainwright asked the defendant why he swung the sledgehammer at the officer, and he replied: “To protect. I heard someone screaming… and I thought she was being seriously hurt by security.”
The barrister asked Corner what he had hoped to achieve in “bringing the sledgehammer down in the way you did”.
In response, he said: “To protect her.”
He added: “I would never want to seriously hurt anyone.”
The court previously hurt that Sgt Evans suffered a fractured spine when Corner hit her with the sledgehammer.
Corner was sprayed “straight in the face” with an incapacitant after police arrived at the factory, he told jurors.
He said: “I immediately couldn’t open my eyes or see. Luckily I could walk away and not hit anything but there was just all-consuming pain in my face.”
He told the court the organisers of the action told participants “we wouldn’t have to worry” about security guards during the demonstration.
The court heard that Corner discovered Palestine Action in 2020 after coming across a video of the group on YouTube.
Mr Wainwright asked him: “What did you know about the type of action they carried out?”
Corner said: “I knew that they would go to these arms factories and occupy them and destroy weapons and other things inside them.”
Mr Wainwright asked him: “So far as you were aware, did the action involve violence to people?”
In response, Corner said: “No.”
Jurors were previously told that the defendants allegedly crashed into shutters outside the factory in a prison van, which was driven by Head and used “as a battering ram”.
Once inside, they used sledgehammers and crowbars to destroy computers, drones and other equipment, and sprayed the walls and floor with red paint using fire extinguishers, the court heard.
The defendants deny all charges and the trial continues.