A bomb hoax accused has denied threatening to blow up a college, claiming the events were a misunderstanding.
Abass Gravand, 35, maintained he did not say he hated white people or talk of killing British soldiers when he was challenged by security officers at Middlesbrough College, at Middlehaven.
He denied threatening to blow up the college, grabbing or trying to bite a security officer or calling that officer racist days after the Manchester Arena terrorist attack.
“I was never aggressive at all,” he told Teesside Crown Court today.
“I never said ‘I have a bomb’ and I don’t think anyone is stupid (enough) to say they have a bomb.
“I never said I had a bomb in my backpack.”
When it was put to him he made threats to blow up the college, to kill white people and that white people should die, he replied: “Never.”
He said he did not understand why he was not allowed to come into the college as he went to the gym carrying a backpack of clothes and a carrier bag on June 2.
His identification badge was taken away over claims he had been washing clothes in the college showers, the court heard.
The Iranian student told jurors he showed his carrier bag and said: “I haven’t got any bombs.”
Assisted by a Farsi interpreter in the witness box, he said: “I lost my temper when they called the police and (they) said ‘he has a bomb’.
“I was upset because they rang the police for no reason.”
He told how he was pulled to the floor, grabbed himself and said “do you want my balls?” - not “do you want my bombs?” as is alleged by the Crown.
He added: “They put me on the floor and they were choking me, my neck.”
He said he fell to the floor when someone tried to twist his arm as he was handcuffed and taken away by the police.
Prosecutor Emma Atkinson told him: “They didn’t have you in a choke hold. You were just being restrained because of your aggressive behaviour and the threats you made.
“What you’re now trying to do is to accuse the security staff of being heavy-handed with you and accuse the police of causing you an injury when you say that you fell.”
Gravand, of Central Mews, central Middlesbrough, denies communicating false information with intent and racially aggravated threatening behaviour.
Judge James Spencer QC told the jury as he summed up the case: “His defence is this - that for some reason they’d misunderstood what he had said. He never meant to threaten anyone. He didn’t have a bomb and didn’t mean to upset anybody.
“He was puzzled why they should want his ID and couldn’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to go about what he thought was his usual business.”
The jury retired to consider verdicts in the case on Thursday.
Proceeding
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