Latest news with #Spanish-Brazilian
Daily Mirror
11 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Sword rampage survivor claims 'killer' slashed him across throat
Marcus Arduini Monzo is accused of murdering 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin and attempting to kill four others during a 20-minute sword rampage in Hainault, London last April A court has heard how an alleged killer slashed a passerby in the neck with a sword before smiling during a 'brutal string of attacks'. The trial at the Old Bailey today heard how Marcus Arduini Monzo, 37, is accused of murdering 14-year-old schoolboy Daniel Anjorin and attempting to kill four others during a 20-minute sword rampage in Hainault, north-east London, on April 30 last year. He denies the charges. A grey Ford Transit can be seen mounting a pavement and hitting Donato Iwule, a Co-op security guard on his way to work, in CCTV footage shown to the jury on Monday. The video captured Mr Iwule screaming as the van struck him before it went on to collide with a house. A man is then seen exiting the vehicle and walking after Mr Iwule while brandishing a sword. 'I thought I was dying,' Mr Iwule said in evidence. He described how he desperately tried to escape into a nearby garden but was struck on his knee, face and shoulder and knocked to the ground. He told the court how he saw the driver get out of the van, pull a sword from a cover 'right in front of my face,' before throwing the cover to one side. 'I said 'I don't know you'… I said it multiple times,' Mr Iwule told prosecutor Tom Little KC. 'He said 'I don't care – I'm going to kill you'.' Mr Iwule explained to the jury how he had tried to raise his arms to defend himself but Monzo swung the sword, slicing his neck. 'I saw blood coming out of my neck,' he said. 'I pressed my thumb to not bleed out… I shouted 'God is greatest' in Arabic – because I'm Muslim. When that happened, he was smiling like it was something that he was happy about.' Mr Iwule said he was able to jump over a fence to escape when Monzo became distracted. He described how he later shouted at a schoolboy, believed to be Daniel, to go back inside. During cross-examination Mr Iwule described how he had been standing upright when he was slashed with the sword and said he could clearly hear Monzo telling him he was going to kill him. Last week jurors heard Monzo allegedly killed and skinned his own cat at home before carrying out the alleged attacks. The court heard that a search of Spanish-Brazilian national Monzo's Newham home yielded evidence of the mutilated deboned animal as well as the presence of cannabis. The court heard how Monzo was under the influence of cannabis that may have led to drug-induced psychosis. However, the prosecution says this does not amount to diminished responsibility. Another witness, Mitchell Hayes, was also on his way to work at the Co-op when he told the jury he saw the van 'going faster, slowing down, going faster' before the crash. He described hearing screaming later and said he saw the driver walk around the van and then get back in and reverse away, appearing to hold what looked like a sword. Mr Hayes said he stayed with Mr Iwule, who was bleeding from the neck, for 10 to 15 minutes. He then became aware of another incident nearby, he explained, he saw another colleague, Nathan Hutchinson, shouting that the attacker had a sword and they saw a body on the other side of the road. 'He was running around with it like a maniac,' Mr Hayes said of the man he believed to be Monzo. Monzo is charged with 10 offences in total, including the murder of Daniel Anjorin, four counts for the alleged attempted murders of Donato Iwule, Sindy Arias, Henry De Los Rios Polania and PC Yasmin Margaret Mechem-Whitfield, a count of wounding with intent, and two counts of possessing an offensive weapon. Monzo has admitted possessing two swords but denies murder, attempted murder, wounding with intent, aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article. The trial continues.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Hainault murder accused had 'clear intention' to kill 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin in sword attack, court told
The man accused of murdering 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin had a "clear intention to kill" during a series of drug-fuelled sword attacks, a jury has heard at the Old Monzo denies murdering the teenager who was on his way to school after leaving his home in Hainault, east London, at 7am on 30 April last year. The 37-year-old Spanish-Brazilian national, from Newham, is accused of murder, four counts of attempted murder and one count of wounding with intent, among other offences. Mr Monzo is charged with a total of 10 offences, eight of which he denies. 'Near-decapitation' Prosecutor Tom Little KC, outlining the case against Monzo, said the accused had a "clear intention" to kill several people during a series of attacks which lasted 20 minutes. Mr Little told the jury that Daniel was "simply walking to school" when he was "slain" with a sword, which he described as 60cm in length, and as a "lethal weapon". This weapon, he said, was used to attack Daniel from behind, slashing his neck, before stabbing him in the chest once he was on the ground. Mr Monzo had "quickly moved like a predator", the prosecutor told the court. The initial blow, he said, was a "devastating" and "unsurvivable chopping injury" to the left side of Daniel's face, causing a "near-decapitation". First alleged victim Mr Little told the jury that before allegedly murdering Daniel that day, the defendant drove a grey van directly into a man called Donato Iwule, who was walking to the Co-op, where he worked. The vehicle struck with "such force" that it sent Iwule and the van into a garden, smashing a fence and a concrete post. The court was shown footage of Monzo getting out of the van and confronting Iwule, who shouted, "I don't know you" to the defendant. Following a brief chase, Mr Little said, the accused "swings" a sword towards Iwule's neck and then torso. However, Iwule escaped, and it was "remarkable" he was not killed or significantly injured, Little said. Police officers with 'significant injuries' The defendant is also accused of injuring police officers who came to Hainault to help Daniel. It's alleged he jumped out at PC Yasmin Margaret Mechem-Whitfield, causing "significant injuries". PC Mechem-Whitfield "bravely pursued" the accused, the prosecutor added, and was hit three times by the sword. 'Do you believe in God?' The jury also heard that Monzo broke into a family home - "not to hide", Mr Little said, but because he wanted to "kill more". Monzo entered a small bedroom where Sindy Arias and Henry De Los Rios Polania were asleep with their four-year-old daughter, and allegedly asked them: "Do you believe in God?" "What happened there must have been horrifying and confusing," Mr Little told the court, as Monzo attempted to swing his sword at both Mr De Los Rios Polania and Ms Arias. Read more on Sky News:Putin wants revenge for Kyiv's airbase attacks, Trump warns Mr Little said that the defendant "must have intended to kill both", but was "stopped in his tracks" by the sound of a crying four-year-old who had been woken up by the commotion. He then left the property. A second officer, Inspector Moloy Campbell, was allegedly stabbed with a sword during an attempt to apprehend Monzo and injured his hand. The defendant was eventually detained while trying to climb onto a garage to escape. He also "killed and skinned" a cat before the attacks, Mr Little told the court. 'Diminished responsibility' The prosecutor told the jury that the defence will be using the argument of diminished responsibility, which would reduce the murder offence to one of manslaughter. Mr Little added that the defence has the burden of proof to show the jury that their client did not mean to murder Daniel, and that it was more likely than not that he did not intend to commit murder. He also said that Monzo allegedly smoked cannabis that morning - described as a "self-induced intoxication" - and likely suffered from a psychotic disorder with "schizophrenic-like symptoms", including "delusional beliefs" that both he and his family were in "mortal danger". However, Mr Little argued, this won't be enough to diminish Monzo's responsibility. The prosecutor said the defendant was "fit to plead", and so the "defence of insanity" does not apply.
Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- General
- Daily Mirror
Sword attacker 'killed and skinned his own cat' before rampage, court hears
Spanish-Brazilian Marcus Arduini Monzo has been charged with 10 offences following an alleged April rampage through Hainault, north east London, after killing his cat A man accused of murdering a 14-year-old schoolboy with a Japanese sword allegedly killed and skinned his own cat first, a court has heard. Marcus Arduini Monzo is alleged to have targeted 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin, who was "simply walking to school, minding his own business" in Hainault, north east London on April 30 last year. The Old Bailey heard Monzo "snuffed out" the teen's life "in an instant", using "severe" and "extreme" force to inflict a "devastating and unsurvivable" injury on him. Monzo, who is charged with the attempted murders of four others and injuring of a police inspector, allegedly killed and skinned his own cat at home beforehand. The court heard that a search of Spanish-Brazilian national Monzo's Newham home yielded evidence of a skinned and deboned cat, as well as the presence of cannabis. While opening proceedings on Wednesday, Tom Little KC said that police found a brown-handled knife during a subsequent search of his van that had traces of non-human blood. He told the jury: "A sample of blood staining was taken from the blade which indicated that it was not human blood. It is perhaps worth noting in that context that the evidence reveals that the defendant killed and skinned his own cat shortly before the matters that you are considering." Prosecutors argued today that Monzo went on a crime spree "brought about by self-induced intoxication in the form of drugs" which started when he targeted Donato Iwule. Mr Little said he had nearly killed Mr Iwule when, at 6.51am on April 30 he drove into him in his grey Transit van at speed. Ring doorbell footage showed the moment the man was sent "catapulting" through the fence of a house, with Monzo emerging at telling his first victim: "I will kill you". CCTV played to the jury captured Mr Iwule shouting at his attacker: "I don't know you, I don't know you." Monzo chillingly replied: "I don't care, I will kill you." The court heard it was "remarkable" Mr Iwule was not killed on the initial impact, and he was able to escape his alleged attacker after he was hit in the neck with a sword. Monzo is alleged to have then 'slain' Daniel, inflicting a "devastating and unsurvivable chopping injury to the left hand side of his face and neck" as he travelled to school. Mr little said the wound was "essentially a near-decapitation", with emergency services arriving at the scene after the alleged attack. PC Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield pursued the defendant, still armed, through a series of alleyways in a residential neighbourhood. The court heard that he struck the police officer three times with the 60cm blade, inflicting "significant" injuries, before entering a nearby house through a backdoor and walking upstairs into the bedroom of a sleeping couple. He is accused of attacking them as their daughter slept in bed next to them. Mr Little argued the two were spared "because in fact the four-year-old child woke up and started to cry". He is then alleged to have then exited the property and was backed into a garage by still pursuing police. He was eventually apprehended after allegedly striking Inspector Moloy Campbell with the sword and attempting to mount another desperate police. Monzo is charged with 10 offences in total, including the murder of Daniel Anjorin, four counts for the alleged attempted murders of Donato Iwule, Sindy Arias, Henry De Los Rios Polania and PC Yasmin Margaret Mechem-Whitfield, a count of wounding with intent, and two counts of possessing an offensive weapon. Monzo - who has no previous convictions - has pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing an offensive weapon - a katana sword and a tanto katana sword. He denies the remaining eight.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Swordsman accused of murdering schoolboy ‘became psychotic after taking cannabis'
A man who murdered a 14-year-old schoolboy with a Japanese sword experienced psychotic episodes after taking cannabis, a court has heard. Marcus Arduini Monzo, 37, believed 'he was in a battle against evil forces' when he allegedly stabbed Daniel Anjorin as he walked to school in Hainault, north-east London, on April 30 last year. He is said to have 'moved quickly like a predator' behind Daniel before inflicting a 'devastating and unsurvivable chopping injury' to his face and neck. The Spanish-Brazilian national, from Newham, east London, is also accused of attacking four others, including two police officers, during a 20-minute rampage. He has denied eight of the 10 charges against him, including murder. A trial at the Old Bailey heard on Wednesday that Mr Monzo's mental state had been 'materially altered' by cannabis use and, at the time of the alleged attack, he had 'developed a cannabis induced fully fledged psychotic episode characterised by reality distortion symptoms'. Tom Little KC, prosecuting, said Mr Monzo was 'informed by his delusional beliefs that he and his family were in mortal danger, and that he was engaged in a battle against evil forces at a time of revelation or Armageddon'. He said cannabis was identified in Mr Monzo's urine and blood samples after the incident and a 'large amount' of cannabis was also found in a search of his house along with a 'skinned and deboned cat'. Mr Little, quoting forensic psychiatrist Prof Nigel Blackwood, who will later be called by the prosecution, said: 'In Prof Blackwood's opinion, cannabis misuse appears to have been the principal driver of his mental state deterioration at this time. 'The violence would not, in Prof Blackwood's opinion, have happened in the absence of such voluntary substance misuse.' Mr Monzo appeared in the dock wearing a bright green jumper with short, cropped hair and stubble. He looked furtively around the court at times and spoke often to security guards sitting on either side of him. Daniel's family were also in the court. Mr Little said Mr Monzo had left his home just before 6.30am in his van, wearing a yellow Quiksilver hoodie, black trousers, and black shoes. He said the attack started at about 6.51am when he drove his van into Donato Iwule, a pedestrian in Laing Close, causing him to be 'catapulted some distance into a garden'. Video footage of the incident was played to the jury, in which Mr Iwule, who had been walking to a Co-Op store where he worked, can be heard screaming in pain. Mr Monzo allegedly then left the vehicle and approached Mr Iwule with a samurai sword. Mr Little said: 'Donato Iwule shouted at him 'I don't know you' and the defendant said 'I don't care, I will kill you'. 'That comment from the defendant tells you, you may think, everything you need to know about his intention that morning.' Mr Monzo is alleged to have swung his sword at Mr Iwule's neck and torso, but he was able to roll away and escape over a fence. 'If he had not managed to escape, it seems inevitable that he too would have been killed,' said Mr Little. Mr Monzo is then said to have driven further down Laing Close before exiting the vehicle. At this time, the court heard that Daniel had left his home and was walking to school wearing sports clothes, his backpack, and headphones. Mr Little said: 'The defendant had obviously seen him and the defendant then moved quickly like a predator behind Daniel Anjorin. 'He lifted the sword above his head and then swung it downwards towards Daniel's head and neck area. 'Daniel instantly fell to the ground. The defendant then leant over him and used the sword again to injure Daniel.' He added: 'The force used was extreme. It involved a devastating and unsurvivable chopping injury to the left-hand side of Daniel's face and neck'. Mr Monzo is then said to have taken off Daniel's backpack, dragging the schoolboy's body along the road in the process. The court heard that emergency services had been called to the scene at this time. Mr Monzo is said to have then attacked Pc Yasmin Margaret Mechem-Whitfield, who pursued him down a series of alleyways behind residential properties while he was still armed. He is then alleged to have entered a nearby house where he attacked a couple in their bedroom. Mr Little said the couple's lives had been spared only because 'their four-year-old child woke up and started crying'. He said there were many police officers in the area at that time, and that Mr Monzo then became 'surrounded in a garage area nearby to the other attacks', where he attacked another police officer. Mr Monzo was finally disarmed and detained after he climbed onto the roof of the garage, he said. Asked about the attack in a police interview, Mr Monzo said his personality switched and that 'something happened, like a game happening', and it was like 'the movie Hunger Games'. Mr Little said: 'He said that one of his personalities is a professional assassin.' In court last month, Mr Monzo denied eight of the 10 charges against him but admitted two counts of having an offensive weapon – a katana sword and a tanto katana sword. He also pleaded not guilty to the attempted murders of Mr Iwule, Sindy Arias, Henry De Los Rios Polania and Pc Mechem-Whitfield as well as wounding Insp Moloy Campbell with intent. Mr Monzo denied aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article relating to a kitchen knife. The trial continues. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- General
- Daily Mirror
Sword attacker 'snuffed out' schoolboy Daniel Anjorin's life 'in an instant'
Teenager Daniel Anjorin was allegedly 'slain' with a samurai sword by Marcus Arduini Monzo while walking to school during an alleged 20-minute rampage in Hainault, east London A 14-year-old boy "simply walking to school, minding his own business" had his life "snuffed out in an instant" by an alleged samurai sword attacker during a 20-minute rampage, a court has heard. Daniel Anjorin was allegedly "slain" by Marcus Arduini Monzo who used "severe" and "extreme" force to inflict a "devastating and unsurvivable" injury on him, the Old Bailey heard. Four other people were seriously injured in separate attacks in Hainault, north east London on April 30 last year. Monzo, a Spanish-Brazilian national, of Newham, east London, is on trial charged with a total of eight offences. They include the attempted murders of Donato Iwule, Sindy Arias, Henry De Los Rios Polania and PC Yasmin Margaret Mechem-Whitfield, as well as wounding Insp Moloy Campbell with intent. Monzo, 37, also denied aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article relating to a kitchen knife. Opening the case on Wednesday Tom Little KC told the jury: "This case involves a brutal string of attacks with murderous intent primarily committed with the use of a large sword. "It occurred over a period of only about 20 minutes, early in the morning of 30th April last year. One of those attacked was killed and others were injured with various degrees of severity. "But the Prosecution say that there was a clear intention to kill a number of people that morning on the defendant's part. It did not matter who they were, or indeed how old they were. Daniel Anjorin is the boy that was murdered. He did not know the defendant. He was just 14 years of age at the time. "He had left home and was simply walking to school, minding his own business, looking forward to the day ahead when he was killed by the defendant. "His life was snuffed out in an instant. In fact most accurately he was slain by the defendant with the use of a sword. "The force used was extreme. It involved a devastating and unsurvivable chopping injury to the left hand side of Daniel's face and neck." Wearing a green jumper, balding Monzo sat in the dock as the case was opened against him. Mr Little said the prosecution understood that he did not deny carrying out the attacks but claims he was suffering from a pre-existing mental disorder which led to him experiencing "psychotic episodes". He added: "The Prosecution case is that this is a clear case of murder and that it is also a clear case of four attempted murders." "We say that the defendant's conduct was brought about by self-induced intoxication in the form of drugs" Outlining the sequence of events, Mr Little told the jury that the first victim, Donato Iwule, was deliberately driven into by the defendant in his van "catapulting" him into a garden. Mr Little said the defendant then got out of the vehicle and attacked Mr Iwule with the sword, striking him to the neck. "Donato Iwule also did not know the defendant. "If he had not managed to escape it seems inevitable that he too would have been killed," Mr Little told the jury. Daniel was the next victim. He was murdered just as police arrived at the scene, the court heard. A female police officer, Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield, was the third person to be attacked. She "bravely pursued the defendant through a series of alleyways" while he remained armed with the sword when she was set upon, the court heard. Ms Mechem-Whitfield was chasing Monzo behind the homes close to where the first two attacks had taken place. Mr Little said: "She too could easily have been killed by the ferocious attack upon her."
