After Charlotte Head finished giving evidence, Sam Corner (23) was the next defendant on the stand, on 8 and 9 December.
As well as the joint charges faced by all six, Sam is charged with grievous bodily harm with intent.
His alleged assault on a police officer has been repeatedly referred to by government ministers in the press to claim that Palestine Action was a violent organisation. This was despite the evidence not yet being heard by a jury – which lawyers say was highly prejudicial to the trial. So Sam’s evidence was a key moment.
About Sam
Before Sam spoke, the judge read out a statement about his diagnoses of autism spectrum condition and ADHD. As his barrister Mr Wainwright began questioning him, the court heard that Sam feels awkward in social situations and especially worries that he might unintentionally hurt people’s feelings. He was a gifted student, with A*s at A-level, and represented the UK at the International Linguistics Olympiad in South Korea. He graduated from Oxford University with a degree in philosophy and linguistics in the summer before the Filton action.
“He had never even been in a fight”
He said he had no previous arrests or convictions and had never even been in a fight.
His awareness of events in Gaza grew as he got involved in a student encampment at his university, which held regular vigils for the people killed in Gaza. He began spending as much time there as possible, giving tours to visitors and helping where he could.
Real Media: “It [the genocide] was affecting him a lot, making him depressed, with so little that people could apparently do about it. That’s what made him think about getting involved with Palestine Action – to actually do something about it. Mr Wainwright asked whether Sam was willing to cause physical harm to another person as something he could do. Sam responded ‘no’.”
Inside the Elbit factory
Through the questioning of the defence and then the prosecution, what Sam conveyed to the court was that the action had not gone as planned. The six inside the factory – the red team or ‘overts’ – had not expected the security guards to come inside. They thought the black team or ‘coverts’ outside would be successful in their role of distracting the guards, and that entering the building would seem like too much hassle, so the guards would simply call the police and wait.
As the Elbit guards began to enter, two of whom were aggressive, Sam became more panicked and overwhelmed.
Asked if he intended to hurt anyone, Real Media reports: “He replied that they were all trying to stop people from being hurt – by bombs and grenades dropped from the drones like the ones in the factory. They weren’t there to hurt people”.
“He replied that they were all trying to stop people from being hurt – by bombs and grenades dropped from the drones like the ones in the factory. They weren’t there to hurt people”
Whenever he was asked if violence was part of the plan, or when he was asked anything about the plan, he kept repeating that the aim was to destroy weapons that would be used for genocide.
The alleged assault
Questioned about hitting Sgt Evans with the sledgehammer, Sam explained that he was overwhelmed with panic. He had just witnessed Jordan Devlin being hit in the face by a security guard with the handle of a sledgehammer and was then sprayed in his eyes with Pava spray, which the court heard earlier causes intense pain and affects vision.
“He remembers his whole face was burning like ‘a widespread nettle sting’, and he couldn’t see anything.”
He was unaware that the police had entered the factory – he thought that more security guards had arrived, as the police did not announce themselves and wore similar uniforms to security.
“He remembers his whole face was burning like ‘a widespread nettle sting’, and he couldn’t see anything”
He then heard one of the women scream (it was Ellie Kamio, who had just been tasered), and ran in her direction, thinking that she was being seriously hurt by a security guard, and wanting to do something to help. He came across Sgt Evans, who was on the floor handcuffing Zoe Rogers, and not being able to see properly thought Zoe was being attacked by a security guard. He said he was not thinking straight when he swung his sledgehammer at her back.
“Sam said that hitting anyone with a sledgehammer was never part of any plan, and that all he knew at that moment was that they were obviously hurting his friend and he was panicking and trying to stop it somehow.”
“Hitting anyone with a sledgehammer was never part of any plan, and that all he knew at that moment was that they were obviously hurting his friend and he was panicking and trying to stop it somehow”
When Evans later asked him why Sam had hit her, as she checked his handcuffs, Sam said he was protecting Zoe.
‘Devasted’
Real Media reports on how Sam described his feelings after he had been arrested: “Sam said he felt devastated – being arrested for ‘terrorism’ or GBH was not something anyone envisaged…He was trying to come to terms with the fact that he had injured a police officer – he was told about it by the solicitor that saw him – he was surprised he had been accused of GBH.”
After Sam had finished on the stand, the court heard some character witness statements. His grandfather’s included these words:
“[Sam] cares deeply for people in the world and has deep compassion. He is gentle with people and animals, putting a fly out of the room rather than swat it. He cares deeply about injustices in the world. He has never been observed with any aggressive traits and finds violence abhorrent.”
That was the end of Sam Corner’s case. The next defendants are Leona (Ellie) Kamio, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin.
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