The head porter at London Fishmongers’ Hall was stabbed in the hand and shoulder by terrorist attacker Usman Khan as he tried to fend him off with an ornamental boarding pike, an inquest has heard.
Lukasz Koczocik grabbed the pike after Khan, a convicted terrorist released on licence, had fatally stabbed Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, at a prisoner rehabilitation event on 29 November 2019.
Giving evidence at an inquest into their deaths, Koczocik said he was forced to drop the pike when Khan severed tendons in his hand.
Koczocik was saved by bystanders, include one armed with a narwhal tusk and another with fire extinguisher, he told a hearing at the Guildhall in the City of London on Tuesday.
Koczocik, who had worked at the hall for 14 years, joined in the fight to fend off Khan, who was armed with two knives, when he saw a guest at the event trying to hit him with a chair.
He said: “I, for some reason decided to grab this boarding pike which is attached to the wall. I thought that’s the best thing I can do.”
Stephen Hough, QC, counsel to the inquest, described the pike as “a long wooden spear with a metal end”.
Koczocik said: “I remember me going back to the lobby area, and being with this man, just face to face. I decided, he’s got to be hurt or something.”
Describing the fight, he said: “I tried to stab him in the face but he was butting my hits very easily … Once I managed to land the strike on his belly, he grabbed the pike with one hand, still holding the knives in his hands. And I just couldn’t shake him off. So he just dragged himself closer to me. And while I was holding with my left hand up front he cut me in the hands, and cut me in the shoulder.”
Describing Koczocik gestures, Hough said: “You signal that he grabbed the pike, and then pulled it towards him, hand over hand.”
Asked what happened next, Koczocik said: “I dropped the pike, because he cut my tendon in my hand so I couldn’t grip it.”
He added: “He was coming towards me. And at that same moment, I noticed that other people with weapons like a narwhal tusk and fire extinguisher. And they came to help me.”
One of the men was spraying Usman with a liquid from the fire extinguisher, Koczocik told the inquest.
He added: “They crowded him so he was stuck, moving back. He was trying to open the doors by himself and get out into the streets.”
After Khan managed to get out of the building, Koczocik and other men, including those armed with the narwhal tusk and the fire extinguisher, followed him.
Koczocik said: “I saw a policeman shoot at him with a Taser. At this point I realised there is no more danger. When I turned to go back then I heard the shots.”
Earlier, Stephanie Szczotko told the inquest she did not realise she had been stabbed by Khan until she saw blood on her blouse.
Szczotko was on a staircase in the hall when she saw up to 10 people running from Khan, she told the inquest.
Szczotko said she was in shock as Khan approached. “I remained on the same step. I just remember seeing one knife in his right hand. He was holding it above his head,” she said.
At first she did not realise she had been stabbed. Szczotko told the inquest jury. “I just remember being struck by something. I think I instinctively raised my arm. I remember looking at him just with shock and confusion,” she said.
Hough , asked Szczotko whether she was aware she had been stabbed. She replied: “I think when I reached the top of the stairs, I had [realised] because I could see blood on my white blouse.”
Szczotko went on to explain how she was given first aid by another guest at the event before being treated by paramedics.
She also described Khan’s face as “expressionless” during the attack.
Khan was later shot dead by police on nearby London Bridge.
The inquest, led by coroner Mark Lucraft QC, continues.