A father has recalled the moment he found his son lying in a pool of blood after he was murdered with a samurai sword in an unprovoked attack by a killer in a drug-fuelled psychosis.
“Kind” and thoughtful Daniel Anjorin, 14, was walking to school in his PE kit when he was ambushed by Marcus Arduini Monzo during a 20-minute rampage in Hainault, east London.
His father, Dr Ebenezer Anjorin, told the Old Bailey on Friday the talented schoolboy set off at 7am on 30 April last year, but within 15 minutes he was told by his eldest son that Daniel had been stabbed near their home.
“I ran outside of the house and just across the road I saw a hunched-up body by the side on the road,” he recalled in a victim personal statement read to the court by prosecutor Tom Little KC.
“I did not realise that it was Daniel at first but as I got closer, I recognised the school sports clothes and saw his face.”
He was “lying in a pool blood” and had a “deep cut” to the side of his face, he said.
“He was motionless,” the father said. “I knew at once he was dead. I reached out and called his name and held his head.”
When Daniel’s mother arrived at the scene and saw paramedics working on her son, she screamed and cried, he added.
Paying tribute to the “much loved son and brother”, who leaves behind an older brother and younger sister, the grieving father added: “It has been the worst nightmare experience of our lives to have to go through the pain of losing a child in such a cruel and savage way.”
The father said he will never see Daniel, who was a gifted student who enjoyed sports and played the violin and piano, take his exams and go to university.
“Daniel had so much potential to excel in so many areas, he could have been a great scientist, financier, or business founder,” the father said.
“We will not see him get married or have children. All the normal things that parents hope for their children.
“All these hopes and aspirations have been cruelly snatched away from us through the wicked actions of Marcus Monzo.”
Dr Anjorin said Monzo was a “danger to society” and had shown no remorse or apologised for his actions on April 30 last year.
He added that the “completely random, savage attack” on a school child had “shocked the community and the whole country”.
Monzo, 37, also injured five other people during the terrifying spree while high on cannabis. The killer, who had a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, also attacked a pedestrian, two police officers and a couple in their own home before being arrested.
He is due to be sentenced by Mr Justice Bennathan at 2pm.
Mr Little KC previously told jurors it was “miraculous” that more people were not killed as Monzo slashed and chopped at those he came across.
The trial heard Monzo had killed and skinned his pet cat, Wizard, and mowed down passer-by Donato Iwule with a van before attacking Daniel, who was walking to school with his headphones in at around 7am.
Witness Maria Olmos said Monzo dropped to his knees and held his hands up after he inflicted the mortal wounds on the unsuspecting teenager, who was a devoted Arsenal fan described as a “true scholar” by his school.
“At the time of doing so he let out an extremely loud scream,” she said. “It wasn’t a scream of pain, it was a scream of delight – my interpretation was he was celebrating.”
Metropolitan Police officer Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield was struck three times with the sword and suffered “significant injuries” as she pursued him through alleyways. He then burst into a property and attacked a couple as they lay in bed, while shouting: “Do you believe in God?”
After once again escaping, he struck inspector Moloy Campbell once with the sword before he was finally arrested.
Afterwards, he likened events to the Hollywood film The Hunger Games and claimed to have an alternative personality of a “professional assassin”.
The Brazilian national had admitted to possessing two swords but insisted he had no memory of what happened and claimed his mental state had diminished his responsibility for the crimes.
On Wednesday, jurors at the Old Bailey found him guilty of murder, three counts of attempted murder, wounding with intent, aggravated burglary and possessing a bladed article.
He was cleared of one count of attempted murder but found guilty of the lesser offence of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Members of Daniel’s family had sat in court throughout the trial when harrowing CCTV and police body-worn video had been played.
Giving evidence in his three-week trial, Monzo told jurors he believed the Earth was flat and the 9/11 terrorist attack in the United States was “probably” a conspiracy.
He said his views were largely formed after he visited India and started consuming the hallucinogenic tea, ayahuasca, and cannabis. But no trace of DMT – the class-A drug in the tea – was detected in his system.
Monzo, who liked to drink and wash in his own urine, described being bullied growing up in Brazil before his family moved to Britain in 2013.
More follows on this breaking news story…
