A 19-year-old has been cleared of attempted murder after a viral video showed him repeatedly stabbing a man on a train in south east London.

The incident took place during the three-minute journey between Shortlands and Beckenham Junction on March 27, 2024.

A video of the stabbing was shared online, in which passengers can be heard screaming “f****** stop it”.

Shortly afterwards, Rakeem Thomas was charged with attempted murder.

On Monday (September 9) prosecutor Michael Williams opened the trial at Inner London Crown Court. 

He told the jury the stabbing began from a chance encounter between Thomas and the victim, aged in his 20s, on the train. 

Mr Williams said after Thomas fled, he was heard telling his mum on the phone “it was either him or me”. 

Giving evidence at the trial on Tuesday, September 10, the passenger who recorded the video said he did it to help police and “to post the video on social media to make people aware of what’s happened and what kind of country we live in”. 

The witness described how he boarded the train at Shortlands station and noticed the two men “wrestling” before it descended into a “proper fight”. 

The witness said they kicked and punched each other then “the victim” ended up on the ground. 

Thomas, who he called “the attacker”, then pulled out a “Rambo style knife” and started to stab the other man while he was on the ground, the witness said. 

“He was laying on the floor and his legs were starting to shake. I thought ‘he will die soon’,” the witness said. 

When asked how many times the man was stabbed, the witness said “definitely more than 20 times”. 

Passengers backed away from the incident including a woman with a small child. 

The witness said: “There was a lady with a three-year-old kid who shouted ‘f****** stop’. She covered the eyes of her kid. This is what made me feel disgusted.” 

When the train reached Beckenham Junction station the witness said he chased Thomas in the hopes of flagging down a police car, but Thomas escaped by jumping over a fence. 

When Thomas was arrested the following day he told police the victim had stabbed him in 2020 or 2021.  

Thomas said the knife was brought to the scene by the man who was stabbed.

He added that he managed to grab it as the victim's waistband as he reached for it.  

Thomas said he panicked and was only thinking about not getting stabbed himself, adding that he blacked out and didn’t know how many times he stabbed the victim.  

He denied attempted murder, as well as an alternative charge of wounding with intent and affray – which relates to the fear caused to other train passengers. 

According to LBC, the jury acquitted Thomas of attempted murder and wounding with intent and affray, accepting his claim of self-defence.