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The team has arranged to meet weapons expert Jonathan Waller, to try and recreate the killing.
So, John, we think our guy was killed with a dagger, so can you tell me about this weapon?
Sure. This is what they call a quillon dagger because the cross pieces are known as the quillons. It can be held in a reversed, some people call an icepick grip for stabbing this way. It can also be held in a sort of normal grip.
So that's kind of interesting because from the wounds on our man, it looks like there were two different grips. Here, turn around. So, you've got one here.
Yeah.
And it comes in like that. And then you've got another one here that it looks like it's coming down that way. It actually goes into the rib.
Then we've got two that go through the ribs and they're going up.
For Jonathan, these injuries don't indicate a professional thought through attack.
If I was coming into murder somebody, I'd be doing the simplest, most effective thing, which would make me expect the wounds to be on his right side. These stabs…
That at the top is weird…
To me, strikes at somebody, you know, why didn't I stab him in the throat, why didn’t I stabbed him down behind the collarbone and go that way.
Yes.
Instead of a coordinated attack, the injuries indicate a much more chaotic situation.
Is there another possibility?
I think there could be an altercation that has escalated and knives getting drawn like they do these days.
So, you know, this guy, you could have been stabbing me as much as I've been stabbing you. If you grabbed me, I could be pushing his arm out of the way, before he draws his dagger, pulling my own. We could have also got into some kind of grapple, and I'm stabbing him from behind.
Yeah.
So, my feeling is it's one of those confrontational scenarios.
Jonathan's attack analysis suggests that the wounds are more likely consistent with a fight than a professional killing.
So that's completely changed my opinion talking to Jonathan. So, talking to the archaeologists, they thought it came from behind, almost like he was jumped, but having seen that, I'm starting to think it was a brawl. Somebody got into a fight.
Representation: www.josarsby.com/turi-king