WINDSOR, ONT. -- A Windsor police officer took the stand in the trial of a man accused of assaulting an elderly woman on the Ganatchio trail.
Constable Deler Bal testified Thursday and Friday in the case of Habibullah “Daniel” Ahmadi.
Ahmadi, 24, is accused of second degree murder in connection with an assault on Sara Anne Widholm.
Widholm, 75 at the time, was severely injured in an attack on the Ganatchio Trail, she died 14 months later.
Ahmadi has pleaded not guilty to charges.
Const. Bal told court he and four other officers were at a home near the crime scene when he saw a man running towards their cruisers.
“He stopped very abruptly” when he saw Bal. “I felt I was going to engage in a foot pursuit with him.”
But Bal says Ahmadi stopped when told, dropped the bag in his hands and put his hand behind his back to be handcuffed.
While under arrest and after being informed of his legal rights to a lawyer, Bal says Ahmadi uttered “I think someone slipped me something” before asking to speak to a lawyer.
Bal telling court Ahmadi was holding a plastic grocery bag full of “blood-soaked” clothing at the time of the arrest. Going on to say, Ahmadi’s clothes were soaking wet, he was shirtless but his hair was perfectly combed.
An officer working at headquarters testified that there was sand in the pocket of Ahmadi’s shorts and socks when he was frisked.
Bal also testifying Ahmadi did not appear to be impaired by drugs or alcohol, was coherent and “stoic” while under arrest.
All five of the officers who have testified say Ahmadi did not appear to be intoxicated.
