Reading knife attack: Man appears in court charged with three counts of murder
29 June 2020, 05:21
A man accused of stabbing three friends to death in a park in Reading has appeared in court.
Khairi Saadallah, 25, is charged with three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder following the attack at in Reading’s Forbury Gardens shortly before 7pm on June 20.
History teacher James Furlong, 36 and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, a US citizen, were each stabbed once in the neck, while scientist David Wails, 49, was stabbed once in his back. They were declared dead at the scene.
Saadallah is also charged with attempting to murder their friend Stephen Young as well as Patrick Edwards and Nishit Nisudan, who were sat nearby in the park, during an attack lasting less than two minutes.
He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court via video link from Coventry Magistrates Court dressed in a grey, prison-issue tracksuit and wearing a surgical face mask. He spoke only to confirm his name and address and did not enter a plea.
Saadallah, who came to the UK from Libya as a refugee in 2012, knifed the victims “without warning or provocation” and shouted words to the effect of “Allahu Akbar”, the court heard.
He was remanded in custody until Wednesday, when he will appear at the Old Bailey.
