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In the few seconds it took for Rowe to process what the woman had just told him that morning, the retired financial planner testified Wednesday, he heard a commotion break out and a din rising from about 15 feet away inside the restaurant.

He then heard his wife exclaim, “Oh my god, that man just jumped that lady.”

Rowe said he moved around the counter and saw a man he later identified as Abdi on top of a woman who appeared to be “pinned” beneath him.

Two men were shouting at Abdi to “Get off! Get off!” Rowe testified, when he jumped into action.

“I thought there was no alternative other than to intervene for the safety of the person (underneath),” Rowe testified in a clear-eyed recollection of details from the chronology of the altercation to the words that were spoken to the precise layout of the restaurant.

“The thing that really scared me was that there was no noise coming from under Abdi,” he said, fearing the “slight” woman pinned under him was in danger.

Rowe approached from behind and grabbed Abdi’s right bicep in a vain attempt to free the woman, who Abdi appeared to have in a headlock on the floor.

“He didn’t budge,” Rowe testified. “He was like a rock. He didn’t even flinch. I realized this guy was very strong.”

Rowe gave a statement to Ottawa police, and later to the Special Investigations Unit in which he described Abdi, who stood 5-feet-10 and weighed 230 pounds, as being “strong as an ox.”

Rowe then wrapped his left arm around Abdi’s neck and used his body weight to prise Abdi off the woman as the two “tumbled” backwards. Abdi’s head hit a chair and “bounced three to five inches” as Abdi fell back in a seated position.