​A violent axe and cricket bat attack on two men as they drove along the A2 ​had its background in human trafficking, a jury has heard.

Those involved in what is alleged to have been a bid to kill the driver of a Seat Leon and seriously injure one of his passengers had all come to the UK from Afghanistan.

One of those now on trial at Canterbury Crown Court was living at Folkestone's Napier Barracks - a former military base used to accommodate asylum seekers​ - around the time of the incident.

But at the start of the prosecution case today (October 15) against Esmatullah Paktiawal and Dawood Khan, it was said that although jurors would hear "a lot of evidence" about "some level of involvement" in people-smuggling, the actual motive for the attacks on Nasrat Ahmadzai and Aleem Marufkhail is not known.

Paktiawal, 36, now of Britannia Place, Plymouth, and Khan, 28, of Burnt Oak in Barnet, north London, ​deny the attempted murder of Mr Ahmadzai and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Mr Marufkhail.

The defendants also deny two offences of possessing an offensive weapon in respect of the axe and cricket bat.

The court heard that 24-year-old Mr Ahmadzai was left lying face-down at the roadside in a pool of blood with life-threatening and life-changing injuries​ as a result of the incident that occurred on the London-bound dual carriageway near the A28 Wincheap junction in Canterbury at about 5.30am on December 14 last year.

Having first been taken to Ashford's William Harvey Hospital, he had to be airlifted to London's King's College Hospital with severe trauma to his head that required surgery for his skull fractures and a brain haemorrhage.

Mr Marufkhail - a 32-year-old Uber driver who was one of two passengers in Mr Ahmadzai's Seat when it was said to have been forced to a stop by a hire Mercedes-Benz car driven by Khan - also suffered deep scalp injuries and a skull fracture, as well as wounds and fractures to his left hand as he had tried to defend himself.

The second passenger - an 18-year-old boy named as Faizullah Ahmadzai but no relation - escaped the alleged onslaught unscathed but later told police how he had watched as "a chaotic movie scene" unfolded before fleeing in fear into nearby woodland.

The court heard that Mr Ahmadzai, and Mr Marufkhail had been to the Kent coast with the teenager and were heading back towards London when the alleged murder bid took place.

Prosecutor Amanda Hamilton told the jury: "The Mercedes pulled in front of the Seat just on the approach to that slip road [at Wincheap]. The Seat was forced to pull over, it had to brake suddenly.

"As Nasrat stopped the car, he got out. He didn't know who it was forcing him off the road and thought it might have been the police.

"The two defendants got out [of the Mercedes] and attacked him.

"Aleem was sitting in the back and got out to assist Nasrat and the defendants set about him as well, leaving them both in a very bad condition.

"The defendants drove away. Aleem was seriously injured and Nasrat was in a life-threatening condition."

Ms Hamilton also told the jury that it was the Crown's case the two defendants were involved in what is known as joint enterprise and acted "in concert, lending encouragement to each other".

But she said the prosecution had to prove that the men's intention in the early morning confrontation was to kill Mr Ahmadzai and cause really serious harm to Mr Marufkhail.

Of the reason behind the incident, Ms Hamilton explained: "The police don't know the defendants' motives for attacking the two men, but the evidence points towards involvement at some level with human trafficking - people coming in and out of this country illegally.

"There is a background to this case and the investigators didn't investigate the absolute detail because what we are dealing with are two serious acts of violence.

"But you will hear a lot about their involvement in trafficking as background."

Evidence was said to include the account of a Romanian lorry driver who had been parked up in a lay-by along the A2 at about 4am that same day when he saw two Mercedes vehicles pull in and "honk" as if to move him on.

He ignored them but later felt movement in his trailer and, after calling police, an Afghan national was found hiding inside.

The jury heard that the man was later linked through fingerprint evidence to Khan's hire vehicle.

It is also alleged the man found in the trailer had received two messages from Khan's WhatsApp two days before the incident on the A2.

The court was told that as of March this year, Mr Ahmadzai was undergoing rehabilitation treatment at a Birmingham hospital where he gave a video-recorded statement to police.

He recalled driving from Birmingham to London and then on to the coast before heading back and the Mercedes "coming up fast behind" him and overtaking to stop him, Ms Hamilton told the jury.

Mr Ahmadzai also remembered two men getting out, and then waking up thinking he had been in an accident, only to be told by others he had been attacked.

Although it was said he had made "a gradual recovery up to a point" and has memory problems, Ms Hamilton said he could remember someone - allegedly Khan - saying: "Now he's finished, leave him".

Of the account the teenage passenger gave to police, it was explained by the prosecutor that Faizullah Ahmadzai, who turns 19 tomorrow (October 16), had been in the country for eight months, ​was living in Birmingham at the time​, and was ​Nasrat Ahmadzai's friend.​

Following an invitation to have "a holiday or day-out", he had travelled with Mr Ahmadzai to Kent, picking up Mr Marufkhail on their way.

It was as they headed back towards London that their vehicle was allegedly ambushed.

The teenager described the Mercedes initially flashing its lights before overtaking the Seat and then slowing down to force it off the road.

"Faizullah described what happened," said the prosecutor. "He said Nasrat and Aleem got out but they told him to stay in the car. He said they weren't holding anything.

"It was dark but he could see the two men in the Mercedes get out and they were holding weapons. One had a normal-sized cricket bat and the other had a hammer or axe.

"He described the axe, saying it was the length of his arm from his elbow to his fingers.

"Faizullah watched as the men walked towards the Seat​ and Nasrat walked towards them​. Faizullah thought ​the men were going to be talking.

​"He heard Nasrat make a noise, so he got out of the car ​and he saw that the two men were attacking Nasrat. ​

"Faizullah said that one man went to Nasrat and the other man went to Aleem and he watched as one hit Nasrat with an axe or hammer to the head and said 'his story is finished', which made Faizullah feel really scared.

"He said the scene was chaos and he ran to the wooded side of the hard shoulder and heard Aleem and the man attacking him shouting.

"Faizullah did not see what was happening to Aleem but he was able to tell police because he was still close.

"He described it as a ‘fight’ or a ‘scene from a movie’ and he hadn't seen anything like it.

"As he ran through the wooded area, he sustained cuts and scratches from branches and thistles.

"Faizullah thought the two men were going to kill his friend and Aleem, and would come after him and kill him.

"After a few seconds, Faizullah heard a noise, and he could see the Mercedes driving away. He returned to the side of the road where Aleem was on the phone to the emergency services but his friend was lying face down and bleeding heavily.

"He took his friend’s hoodie and applied it to his head wound. Faizullah tried to keep Nasrat awake. His eyes were open but he was unresponsive."

The court heard another motorist - a cab driver - stopped to help and dialled 999, telling the operator that unless help arrived soon, one of the casualties would die.

Mr Marufkhail also rang the emergency services, reporting an attack by men who "had armour" and had left his friend bleeding heavily from his head.

In an account he later gave police, he said he had known Mr Ahmadzai for about three months, was "in the habit" of travelling from London where he lived to Birmingham, and also to Kent to meet friends who were in another immigration centre in Manston.

Mr Marufkhail explained they were about 25 minutes into their journey on the London-bound A2 when the Seat suddenly braked and he saw a Mercedes S-class next to them.

He said he recognised the driver as Habib - a name allegedly used by Khan - who was holding a cricket bat, while the second man carried an axe.

Mr Marufkhail said Mr Ahmadzai was then struck with the axe to his head, causing him to fall to the ground.

It was at that point, he told police, that he got out of the Seat to help, only to also be attacked with the axe, first to his hand and then his head.

The court heard Mr Marufkhail also described to officers at the scene that the attack was "random" and had been carried out with a hammer.

A pathologist later concluded that the head and hand injuries suffered by the men were consistent with being caused by an axe or similar-type weapon, and had been inflicted with significant force to Mr Ahmadzai.

In the Seat, police found a bat, a mallet, a knife and a claw hammer. However, neither the cricket bat nor the axe were recovered.

The court heard that ANPR checks led to the blood-stained Mercedes being discovered in a private underground car park in Edgware, London, on December 19.

The car had also been captured on CCTV at the Whitfield BP service station near Dover about 20 minutes before the alleged murder bid, where fuel and two "Monster Mega" energy drinks were purchased.

A security officer at Napier Barracks also reported that Paktiawal had checked back into Napier Barracks at 6.15am on December 14, holding a similar drink, sporting a large cut to his head and with his trousers covered in blood.

When he asked what had happened, Paktiawal told him he had fallen onto a fence before stating he had been in Folkestone clubbing, but he would not let the staff member look at his wound.

Paramedics were, however, called to the barracks where they were also told by Paktiawal that he had fallen over and, as a result, he was taken to the William Harvey Hospital.

But although his injury was later reported to police at the hospital, it was not until February 23 that he was arrested in Manchester and also charged.

His phone was seized and although it was discovered it had undergone a factory reset on December 20, a SIM card belonging to Khan had been used in the handset for a period after the attack.

Khan, meanwhile, had been arrested in Barnet on January 28 and also charged.

Analysis of his phone showed that at 7.30pm on December 14 he had booked a flight leaving the next day to Kabul in Afghanistan, and had been subsequently captured on CCTV checking in at Gatwick Airport.

Summarising the prosecution case against the two defendants before calling evidence in what is estimated to be a six-week trial, Ms Hamilton told the jury it could not be said with clarity what the motive was for Khan allegedly stopping the Seat or what was known about any relationship between the occupants of the two vehicles.

But she said Khan and Paktiawal had "acted with a common purpose" to leave Mr Ahmadzai in a critical condition and Mr Marufkhail seriously injured before fleeing the scene and heading to Napier Barracks, where Paktiawal "lied" about the large laceration to his forehead.

Neither of the accused had alerted the emergency services to the fact two men were at the roadside in need of urgent medical treatment, added Ms Hamilton.

Their reasoning for that, she explained, was because they had intended to kill one man and cause really serious injury to the other.

The comments overheard about Mr Ahmadzai being "finished" also "spoke volumes", the prosecutor added.

The trial continues.