VIDEO. Bystander talks to the suspect of fatal stabbing in Seefhoek, while he still has the murder weapon in his hands (Antwerp 2060)
The Seefhoek licks its wounds after Sunday’s meaningless stabbing on the square in Duinstraat. The 32-year-old Ilyes ‘Wajdi’ Zairi died after an 18-year-old troublemaker stuck him in the chest with a meat knife. Ilyes only wanted to intervene to protect a young mother who was harassed by the teenager. But Ilyes Zairi was not the only brave man involved in the incident, we learn from images on social media.
After the suspected perpetrator fled on foot, he was stopped by bystanders in the nearby Offerandestraat. This can be seen on amateur images that are circulating on social media.
The video shows how a man appeals to the perpetrator in a calm tone, while the latter is against the facade of a house. « My friend, the police called me. Put that knife on the floor, » he says calmly in Arabic as he approaches the young man. The man in the video asks the young man dressed in black to put his knife down.
The young man does not immediately enter his request, but gets up and puts the knife in his pocket. « I swear you, nobody will approach you, » the bystander continues to insist, while at some point he raises the arms in the air.
A little later in the video you can see how a bicycle team from the Antwerp police arrives on the spot and the suspect calls: « On the ground, on the ground! ». The suspect then drops a lighter and the knife on the floor, sides on his knees and puts the hands in the neck. When the young man lies on the stomach with a knee of a cop in the back, he gets a staircase from another bystander.
The 18-year-old perpetrator was taken by the police and appears today, Monday, for the investigating judge.
