An Eid worshipper has told a jury he was hugging a man in a Bradford mosque after morning prayers when he suddenly stabbed him in the stomach with a machete.

Fezan Hussain was trying to push the large knife further into the victim’s abdomen during the attack at the Madni Masjid Mosque, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Hussain, 27, of Radfield Road, Wyke, Bradford, is not before the court after it was ruled at an earlier hearing that he was ‘unfit to plead’ to a charge of attempted murder.

A jury is hearing the case to decide if he ‘did the act’ alleged against him.

The court heard that the victim, a man in his 20s, was stabbed in the prayer room at the mosque on Newton Street in West Bowling, Bradford.

Jonathan Sharp, barrister for the Crown, said Hussain was ‘under a disability’ and not part of the proceedings.

On May 2, he took a large knife from home to the mosque and stabbed the young man in the abdomen ‘with no motive or reason.’ The injuries were very serious and the victim was in hospital for weeks.

Mr Sharp said Hussain concealed a large knife under his robes that he bought by mail order the previous month. He sat down on the floor in the mosque and adjusted the knife that was concealed in his trousers.

After prayers, he got up with the other worshippers and went up to the victim who recognised him from childhood. He thought they were going to embrace as a traditional sign of peace.

But Hussain pulled out the knife and stabbed him in the abdomen. The blade went into his liver causing really serious internal damage.

The victim told the police he was at prayers in the mosque with a hundred other worshippers. He met about five or six people afterwards and was hugging Hussain when he pulled a machete and stabbed him straight in the stomach.

He took a few steps backwards and collapsed on to the floor. Hussain looked ‘right angry’ and was staring at him.

“He did it that fast. It must have been tucked in his pants…he had his hand on it and he was trying to push it in more,” the man said. The machete was hanging out of him and he pushed Hussain away.

He knew Hussain from childhood but hadn’t seen him for about three years. They had never had any problems. He knew Hussain was missing his right hand.

“He stabbed me literally as I hugged him. I saw it stuck in me. I went backwards and collapsed on the floor,” he said.

Paramedics called to the mosque assessed that the man was ‘at great risk of death,’ Mr Sharp said.

He had a ten centimetre injury to his liver and a section of it had died.

He was operated on that day and needed blood and plasma transfusions. He was transferred to the intensive care unit at St James’s Hospital in Leeds for further treatment.

David McGonigal, Hussain’s barrister, made no submissions on the facts of the case.

Judge Jonathan Rose told the jury to put aside any emotions and look at the facts.

The defence did not contest the allegations but it was up to the jury to decide if the Crown had proved its case.

Judge Rose said Hussain wasn’t fit to stand trial. Through no fault of his own, he was too unwell to play any part in the proceedings.

The jury had to decide if he ‘did the act alleged’ by stabbing the man. Judge Rose said a verdict of guilty was not available to them, although they could find him not guilty.

The jury will retire early this afternoon to begin its deliberations.