Axe attack a ‘scare’ tactic

A SOMALI man charged with trying to kill a Dane who caricatured the Prophet Mohammed pleaded not guilty to attempted murder on the first day of his trial yesterday, insisting he had only aimed to scare the cartoonist.

Somali Mohamed Geele, 29, appeared at a packed court in the central Danish town of Aarhus, speaking calmly in Danish.

Geele, who is suspected of breaking into 75-year-old Kurt Westergaard’s home on January 1 last year wielding an axe and trying to kill him, could face life in prison if found guilty on all counts: attempted terrorism, attempted murder, attacking a police officer and illegal arms possession.