A killer screamed ‘in delight’ after hacking a 14-year-old boy to death with a samurai sword, the Old Bailey heard today.
Marcus Arduini Monzo, 37, virtually decapitated Daniel, who had been on his way to school wearing his PE kit with his earphones on.
Witness Maria Olmos described Monzo’s reaction after the attack saying: ‘As he fell to his knees, the man raised both his arms to the sky.
‘At the time of doing so he let out an extremely loud scream. It wasn’t a scream of pain – it was a scream of delight. My interpretation was he was celebrating. His eyes and mouth were wide open when he screamed.’
Prosecutors say he was intent on killing as many people as he could during the 20-minute rampage on April 30 last year.
Jurors have heard Monzo later likened events to the Hollywood movie The Hunger Games and claimed to have an alternative personality of a ‘professional assassin’.
One was so affected by footage of Monzo standing over Daniel’s lifeless body that they walked out of court, causing a brief delay in the trial earlier this week.
Monzo denies murdering Daniel as well as charges of attempted murder, wounding with intent, aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article. He has admitted possessing two swords.
A pedestrian, two police officers and a couple in their own home were also attacked during the rampage, the court has heard.
Inspector Moloy Campbell told jurors how he was injured as he tried to detain Monzo.
Before arriving at the scene, he heard on the radio that one of his colleagues had been stabbed.
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A member of the public waved him down and pointed towards a car park and garage area.
Mr Campbell told jurors: ‘Our purpose was to arrest and protect the other officers. I decided to confront the defendant.’
He sprayed him first but Monzo ‘blocked’ the move and ‘came for’ the officer, jurors heard.
Mr Campbell went on: ‘I dropped my spray and drew my baton. I struck him or attempted to strike him. I believe I connected with him at least twice.
‘Mr Monzo was slashing at me with a large sword. He made contact with my hand and certainly with my bodyworn camera.’
Asked how he felt, the officer told jurors: ‘I was disappointed to put it bluntly because it meant I could not carry on what I was trying to do.’
Trial judge Mr Justice Bennathan observed: ‘Presumably you were terrified because someone is slashing at you with a sword.’
The witness replied: ‘It was frightening. I remember my priority to try to carry on.’
He said he saw blood when he looked down at his hand and his baton was also covered in blood.
Ms Campbell said he found himself ‘backed into a corner’ and withdrew, and asked a colleague to put a tourniquet on his thumb.
He was treated at the scene and taken to hospital as the defendant was detained and arrested a short time later, the court was told.
Previously, the court has heard how Monzo launched a series of attacks by driving his grey Ford Transit van into Donato Iwule, who was ‘catapulted’ into a nearby garden before the vehicle smashed into a concrete pillar and fence.
He went on to hit Mr Iwule in the neck with his sword before running away, it is alleged.
He then virtually decapitated Daniel, who was wearing headphones on his way to school, jurors have heard.
They were shown further CCTV and police body-worn camera footage of Monzo running through the residential area armed with a Samurai sword.
PC Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield pursued the armed defendant through a series of alleyways through residential properties, the court heard.
Monzo struck her three times with the sword that had a 60cm blade using ‘extreme force’, the prosecutor said.
It is alleged Monzo entered a property and attacked a couple who were sleeping in an upstairs bedroom with their young daughter nearby.
Forensic pathologist Dr Ashley Fegan-Earl told jurors that Daniel’s injuries were ‘absolutely unsurvivable’.
He said that Daniel’s cause of death was sharp force trauma to the head and that Monzo had used ‘an extreme level of force’.
Monzo denies Daniel’s murder and the attempted murders of Mr Iwule, Sindy Arias, Henry De Los Rios Polania and Ms Mechem-Whitfield, as well as wounding Mr Campbell with intent.
He also denies aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article relating to a kitchen knife.
Monzo previously admitted two counts of having an offensive weapon, namely two swords.
Prosecutor Tom Little KC previously told jurors: ‘There is no issue then that it was that man in the dock that carried out that string of attacks and who killed Daniel Anjorin and seriously injured a number of others.
‘What you have to decide is very largely as straightforward as why he did so and what his state of mind was at the material time.
‘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. This, we say, led to a psychotic disorder.’
He added: ‘The defence case is that the defendant was most likely suffering from a pre-existing condition … which created a vulnerability to experiencing psychotic episodes with schizophrenia-like symptoms, prompted by his use of cannabis.’
The trial continues.
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