06 Apr 2022 • 13 hours ago • 3 minutes reading • 8 comments This photo, filed in court as evidence, shows the scene at Richmond Row in central London, hours after a late-night collision in May 2018 which led to Dereck’s death with a Saflarski knife
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Abdalla Osman was used to fighting with the big traffic at the closing time in the middle of the stage of the London bar.
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It was not unusual, the former taxi driver testified Wednesday in the second-degree murder trial of Robert Ashley Williams, for people to walk down Richmond Street as soon as the pubs closed as they were on their way home. That was when Osman could find a steady job. Around 2:30 a.m. on May 26, 2018, he had driven north to Richmond and was able to turn and head south, driving slowly in case anyone described him. Those few seconds on one of London’s busiest corridors looking for fares put him in a place where he saw some of what happened to Dereck Szaflarski, 27, who died of stab wounds after hitting a shop window. Williams, 39, pleaded not guilty. His trial at the High Court of Jurors began in a London court on Monday.
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Osman testified that as he drove south, he saw a man and two women entering in front of his cab and a white car near him. He made eye contact with “a white man” who nodded in agreement that he did not need a walk before crossing the street. Seconds later, the same man returned charging, running behind Osman’s cabin and looking in his rear-view mirror where “a black man” was standing. Then Osman heard the glass break and saw the white man walking back on the street and heading opposite. Osman continued to drive, thinking the race was over, but when he saw the white car speeding past him on Mill Street, he said he thought “something very serious had happened”. Osman returned to the area later and by then the police had cordoned off her. The jury saw photos from the crime scene through testimonies from the London Det police. Rick Terrio showing broken glass and blood on the sidewalk at Apparel Xpress, near the corner of Richmond and Piccadilly Streets.
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Robert Ashley Williams, left, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Derek Saflarski in May 2018. A trail of blood was visible crossing Richmond Street in an area of accumulated blood where Szaflarski had collapsed. The jury also saw photos of the white Nissan Altima of Williams and Williams after it was turned over to London police four days after Szaflarski’s death. Williams had a large bandage covering his left arm that Terrio agreed was for broken glass injuries. Police also recorded other bruises and scratches. Earlier Wednesday, defense attorney Chris Uwagboe examined Shawna Oag, one of two women who was with Szaflarski when she was stabbed, and gave clues as to where the defense’s case was going. Oag agreed, after being shown a photo of Szaflarski on social media, that he was, as Uwagboe put it, “a muscular, well-shaped guy.” Uwagboe then showed Oag on Szaflarski’s Twitter page and a post from October 11, 2012, six years before his death, where there was a re-tweet of another account post that had a racial surname.
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Oag said it knew about Szaflarski’s Facebook and Instagram pages, but is not a Twitter subscriber. He told Uwagboe he did not know if Szaflarski might have used the word. He agreed that Szaflarski was physically strong, but did not know if he was more muscular than the driver of the car, named Williams. The clash lasted only seconds before Szaflarski – who had gone out to celebrate his birthday – returned to the streets. He agreed that he did not know at the time what Williams was holding in his hand, but assumed it was a knife because of the way Williams was holding it and Szaflarski’s injuries. The trial continues on Thursday. [email protected]
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