A van that ploughed into a group of Muslims during Ramadan accelerated as it approached the worshippers, leaving them "splattered all over the place", one of those hit has told a court.

One person died when Darren Osborne, of Glyn Rhosyn in Cardiff, is alleged to have deliberately mowed down the crowd in Finsbury Park, north London, shortly after 12.15am on June 19 last year.

Mohammed Geedi, 28, said he saw and heard the white van speeding up and the noise of gears changing as it turned into Whadcoat Street, while other witnesses reported hearing the engine being revved.

Mr Geedi was hit on the left arm by the heavy Luton box van's wing mirror and knocked backwards into an older woman.

He told Woolwich Crown Court: "I see the big white van, I can see the headlights ... I can hear a rev."

He added: "I could see there was one driver that was in the vehicle. It was going towards us."

From the noise of the engine he said he could hear the driver "from gear one accelerating, holding the clutch and changing into gear two" to "pick up the pace".

Describing the scene after the impact, Mr Geedi said: "I looked at a lot of people just splattered all over the place."

He said he feared the driver of the van may have weapons, following the London Bridge attack just weeks earlier.

The driver left the van and tried to escape the grasp of the crowd on the pavement, Mr Geedi said.

He told the court: "He was very sweaty. He looked very sweaty. Angry."

He added: "At the time it did not affect me ... because I was panicking, but there was someone behind me, I think it was an old lady, who broke her ribs."

Mr Geedi, who was wearing a traditional robe that came down to his ankles, was getting a lift with a friend to late-night prayers at the nearby Muslim Welfare House when he saw victim Makram Ali drop to the ground.

He went over to the group of people surrounding Mr Ali, 51, one of whom was calling an ambulance.

Of the victim, he said: "He was reciting something and he had a little blood on the top of his head - a tiny bit.

"I could see the movement from his lips."

He added: "I saw there was a girl and a guy with a white T-shirt - there was a lot of people trying to help him."

It was moments after this that he saw the van approach and hit the group, he said.

Mr Geedi said after the collision Mr Ali's T-shirt was lifted up, his stomach was out, and he had "tyre marks" on his body.

Osborne denies the murder of Mr Ali and attempted murder of "persons at the junction of Seven Sisters Road and Whadcoat Street, London".

In a statement read to court, witness Mahad Mohamed Ismail said it seemed as if the driver's foot was "flat" on the pedal as the vehicle moved towards the crowd.

He said: "It was revving its engine as it ran into the people."

The court heard he felt "in shock and traumatised" in the moments after the collision.

He said: "I witnessed a horrific attack on Muslim people. I feared for my life when that van was coming towards me."

Hamdi Alfaiq, who was left with "life-changing" injuries after being knocked unconscious, walked into the courtroom with a crutch before sitting in the witness box.

The 38-year-old had been offering Mr Ali, who was conscious but sweating as he lay on the pavement, a drink of water, before he "felt something hit me... very strong", he said, gesturing at his face.

Reading to him a previous statement, prosecutor Sarah Przybylska said: "You described the van coming and said 'I went into unconsciousness, I next remember waking up underneath the van.

"People were talking to me, I knew I had broken my left arm, my left shoulder was hurting me. People and police officers started to pull me out from underneath the van."

In response, he clarified: "They pulled me out but I don't remember anything from when I was underneath.

"Someone had a pillow on the ground and I was saying to my friends 'don't allow the people to touch my left hand'."

The doctor's note at the time said he had sustained "a number of serious and life-changing injuries, underwent major surgery and will require months of rehabilitation", Ms Przybylska said.

Some of Mr Alfaiq's injuries included fractured ribs, left arm, left foot and pelvis and he later suffered a blood clot in his lung following surgery, the court heard.

Waleed Salim, Mr Alfaiq's cousin who was with him at the time, saw Mr Ali collapse "straight on to his back".

As he lay on the ground, Mr Ali was "panting" but had his eyes open, he said.

In a statement read to court, he said: "I think he would have been fine if the ambulance had arrived before what happened next."

Mr Salim, a taxi driver who was 34 at the time, said he was knocked over and thought he fell unconscious after being struck by the van.

When he got up he saw his cousin was trapped underneath, near the front wheel, and that people were trying to pull him out.

He said: "It was really heavy so some people had to drag my cousin out on to the pavement."

He added that Mr Alfaiq was "covered in cuts and scratches" after he was pulled out.

Ibrahim Benaounda was hit after attending prayers at Finsbury Park Mosque. He had rushed to the aid of Mr Ali and attempted to support his head.

In a statement read to court, he said: "He (Mr Ali) stated to me that he just wanted to go home and attempted to get up."

Mr Benaounda then remembered hearing "revving" from a vehicle behind him, before it struck him.

He said: "When it hit me it felt like being on a rollercoaster, and spinning round and round. I could feel everything. I could feel my bones breaking."

When he opened his eyes, he noticed he was a few metres away from where he had tended to Mr Ali.

Adnan Mohamud, who made the 999 call following Mr Ali's collapse, said he would never forget the face of the "constantly smiling" van driver, prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC said.

The 28-year-old said he may have grabbed the man he believed was the driver as he tried to make his escape.

Reading out his statement, Mr Rees said: "Whilst this male was on the floor I remember him saying 'I have done my job, you can kill me now. He was smiling as he said it."

He added: "Something I will never forget was that he was constantly smiling. I knew at this point that what he did was not an accident - it was definitely deliberate."

Abdulrahmen Aidroos said in a statement that all he heard was "bang, bang, bang'" as the van hit the group, leaving people strewn across the road.

Afterwards, he recalled the driver being chased by others as he attempted to run away, Ms Przybylska said.

Mr Aidroos "stood his ground" because he "could not let him get away with what he had just done", he said in the statement.

"I saw him running towards me and I could see that he was hitting out and trying to push anyone that tried to come close to him. I could hear him saying 'I want to kill you, I want to kill you' as he was punching out."

As he held the man down, he said: "I could see and hear hate and anger in his face and voice.

"I asked the male 'Why, why did you do this?'

"I knew at the time that there were at least two people stuck under the van and he just replied 'Kill me'."

Mohammed Mahmoud, who has been an imam at the Muslim Welfare Mosque since 2011, told the court how he stopped the crowds from attacking the van driver after the alleged attack.

He was in his office after night prayer when one of his congregation came in "shocked and panting" and said there had been an incident.

Giving evidence, he said: "As soon as I arrived I saw bodies left and right. I saw Makram Ali on the floor having CPR administered on him.

"I saw the attacker on the floor, face down with two or three men on top of him."

The imam said the alleged attacker was surrounded by a group of around 10 to 15 people, who were throwing punches "from almost every direction".

He said he urged the crowd to hand him "unscathed" to the police, adding: "I shouted 'no one touch him'. I told people to get back."

Asked why he acted in this way, Mr Mahmoud said: "It was a natural response. He posed no harm to anybody. He was immobilised.

"He wasn't a threat and therefore he should answer for his crime in a court such as this, which he is doing now, and not in a court in the streets."

Another witness, Susan Can, said the surrounding crowd was "very angry" before police arrived and detained the driver in their van.

In a statement read out by the prosecution, she said: "As he was sat in there I saw him blow a kiss at the crowd. This made them angrier still."

She added: "What happened sent a big shock through the community and lots of us, we go to the mosque (I am not a practising Muslim) and offer to help in any way."