A sword attacker who almost decapitated a 14-year-old schoolboy during a violent rampage that he compared to The Hunger Games has been found guilty of murder.
Marcus Arduini Monzo, 37, also injured five other people during his 20-minute spree of violence in Hainault, east London, while high on cannabis on 30 April last year.
He mowed down pedestrian Donato Iwule with a van before ambushing teenager Daniel Anjorin with a samurai sword while he was walking to school with his headphones in, the Old Bailey heard.
Monzo, a Brazilian national, then went on to strike Metropolitan Police officer Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield three times with the sword as she chased him through nearby alleyways.
He then entered a property and attacked a couple as they lay in bed, while their young daughter was sleeping in the next bedroom.
After once again escaping, he struck Inspector Moloy Campbell once with the sword before he was arrested.
Afterwards, he likened events to the Hollywood film The Hunger Games and claimed to have an alternative personality of a “professional assassin”.
Monzo had admitted possessing two swords but denied murder, attempted murder, wounding with intent, aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article.
As well as the murder conviction, the jury found him guilty of 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.
Jurors were shown CCTV of Monzo’s grey Ford Transit mounting the pavement and hitting Mr Iwule, with his screams of agony heard before his attacker exits the vehicle brandishing a large sword.
His victim told the Old Bailey that Monzo had been smiling while Mr Iwule repeated “I don’t know you”, to which the defendant replied: “I don’t care – I’m going to kill you.”
After he was able to escape, Monzo drove a short distance down Laing Close before spotting Daniel making his way to school at around 7am.
The schoolboy sustained a “devastating and unsurvivable chopping injury to the left hand side of his face and neck” from the sword, the prosecutor added.
Tom Little KC described the wound as “essentially a near-decapitation”.
He went on to inflict “significant injuries” to Pc Mechem-Whitfield, and attacked Sindy Arias and Henry De Los Rios Polania in their bedroom while shouting “do you believe in god?”.
He stopped only after their four-year-old child woke up and began to cry, before leaving the property through the front door and being backed into a corner by the police.
It was later discovered that before the attacks, Monzo had killed, deskinned and deboned his cat.
During his police inteview, Monzo claimed his personality had switched and that “something happened, like a game happening”.
He also told jurors he believed the Earth was flat and the 9/11 terrorist attack in the United States was “probably” a conspiracy.
He told jurors his views were largely formed after he visited India and started consuming hallucinogenic tea ayahuasca and cannabis.
In recent years, he had travelled for extended periods to Brazil and India, and also attended breatharian festivals in Italy and Denmark, which promote living without food, jurors were told.
On his return to the UK, Monzo said he argued with family members because he was “not very clean”.
The defendant told the court that he began drinking his own urine for “cleaning” purposes.
He added: “I would use it to shower, on the hair, even using it on the nose.”
While Monzo had been under the influence of cannabis, drug-induced psychosis is not a recognised medical condition and cannot alone establish diminished responsibility, jurors were told.
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