A soldier at Redford Barracks in Edinburgh who allegedly stabbed a fellow recruit a dozen times in his chest and back has gone on trial charged with attempted murder.
Paula Tikonatabua, 24, was allegedly acting aggressively during a “drunken evening” at the barracks before attacking the victim in his quarters.
CCTV footage shown to the jury at the High Court in Livingston showed colleagues fighting to save the life of Mani Hameed, 20, who was severely wounded. Hameed, who was seen in the film wearing only his boxer shorts, suffered several stab wounds to the right side of his chest and the left side of his back, as well as a single stab wound to his calf.
The jury was told that Tikonatabua, who has pleaded not guilty, was arrested by firearms officers who were called to the barracks — the home base of D Company, 4th Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Scotland — in the early hours of Sunday, May 21, 2022.
Hameed said that it had been a “fairly rowdy, drunken evening” in Balaklava Hall, that fights had broken out and that the accused had tried to jump from a third-floor balcony. He said: “I saw him at the railings. He had his foot on the second bar of the railings saying he was going to put his head over. He was just screaming he was going to kill himself.”
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Hameed said everybody else in the barracks had been drinking heavily that weekend but that he had refrained because he was preparing for a boxing match the following week.
He said that he had returned to his room and found the accused there. His bed sheets had been ripped and a fan and a computer monitor had been smashed.
Hameed said: “I told him he was going to pay for it and he started smiling. There was blood on his face. I pulled his sheet away and he turned onto his back and kicked me in the face.
“Then he stands up and shoulder charges me into his corner of the room. I started feeling hits — punches — so I punched him on his body as well.
“I felt sharp things on my body, about 11 of them. I thought I was just being punched but when I stepped back I felt like water running down my body.”
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Hameed said he suddenly noticed Tikonatabua had a knife in his hand, which was raised above his head.
“I then realised the water I felt was in fact blood and I tried to get away,” Hameed said. “When I was walking away I saw Tiko at the door coming after me with Peni Tubuna [another recruit] holding him back. Peni shut the door to keep him in.”
He said he had banged on another soldier’s door to ask him to summon help before trying to make his way to the guardroom. He said he was on the second set of stairs when he saw the accused chasing him again with the knife.
Hameed eventually stumbled into the guardroom, where pressure was put on his wounds and a dressing was applied before paramedics arrived and took him to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
Tikonatabua is also charged with assaulting Lewis Talbot, an infantry foot soldier, by pulling him to the ground, seizing hold of his testicles and punching him on the body. The prosecution further alleges that Tikonatabua acted aggressively, uttered threats and challenged others to fight during the alleged incident.
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Tikonatabua has pleaded not guilty. The trial continues.