A drug-crazed killer who decapitated a schoolboy and injured four others in a 20-minute samurai sword rampage has been jailed for at least 40 years.
Marcus Monzo, 37, believed he was an assassin from a Hollywood film when he killed Daniel Anjorin as the boy was walking to school in his uniform.
High on cannabis which ‘led to a psychotic disorder’, the Brazilian shouted ‘Does anyone believe in God?’ as he attacked four strangers after ‘chopping’ Daniel to death in Hainault, East London.
In the first public comments from Daniel’s family about the attack, Dr Ebenezer Anjorin, Daniel’s father, described the terrible moment he saw his son’s body slumped in the street near their home, saying: ‘I knew at once he was dead.’
He spoke of how losing a child ‘in such a cruel and savage way’ had been their ‘worst nightmare’ and that the scale of their ‘pain and anguish’ was hard to convey in words.
Following the sentencing, his parents Grace and Ebenezer said in a statement outside court that ‘No verdict or sentence can bring back our son Daniel, who we loved so dearly, but we are grateful that justice has been served.’
Passing a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years, reduced to 38 years and 309 days after time served, Mr Justice Bennathan said: ‘In Hainault, east London, just before 7am on April 30 last year, the weather was good and the streets were starting to fill up. People were on their way to work and even a few children were heading off early to school.
‘Over the 20 minutes that followed, that peaceful scene was devastated because members of the public were attacked, police officers were gravely injured, a couple were terrified in their own home and a clever, talented, much-loved young boy was killed with a savage blow from a sword.
‘You, Marcus Monzo, did all of that.’
He said Monzo had set out to drive to Hainault that day in a ‘clear psychotic state’ and that, when he saw Daniel, he ‘must have known whatever state he was in that he was a child, a school boy’.
Despite this, the judge said, Monzo still struck Daniel down from behind, leaving him with a ‘terrible, unsurvivable wound’.
The judge told the defendant that, although he was found to have ‘traits of a schizotypal disorder’, the use of cannabis ‘was the main cause of your state that day’.
He said he would have imposed a sentence of at least 50 years if it had not been for Monzo’s mental ill health and previous good character.
Monzo, wearing a green knitted jumper, showed no reaction in the dock as the judge passed his sentence.
Reacting to the verdict outside court, Grace and Ebenezer solemnly remembered their son as they said he had ‘so much potential’.
They told reporters: ‘This has been a painful and deeply traumatic chapter in our lives. No verdict or sentence can bring back our son Daniel, who we loved so dearly, but we are grateful that justice has been served.
‘Daniel was taken from us in a way no family should have to endure. His life had so much potential ahead: he was gifted academically, was kind and had a generous spirit that touched everyone who knew him. We carry that light with us even in this dark time.’
They added: ‘We honour Daniel’s memory, not in the shadow of this tragedy, but through the love and happiness that he brought to us and all those that knew him.’
The family also thanked the police, the prosecution team and those ‘all those who work tirelessly to seek the truth’.
The heartbroken family said: ‘To everyone who supported us through this ordeal, friends, family, our church, our workplaces, our children’s schools and even strangers, thank you. Your love and support has been a lifeline.’
Monzo was today forced to reckon with the devastation caused by his crimes as the Old Bailey heard the victims describe in their own words how their lives had been shattered.
The court had earlier been told in horrifying detail about the moment Dr Anjorin found his son fatally injured just 15 minutes after watching him walk out of the door for school.
In a statement read to the court by prosecutor Tom Little KC, he said: ‘On April 30 at approximately 7am Daniel left for school. At approximately 7.15am I was informed by my eldest son that Daniel had been stabbed on the road near our house.
‘I ran outside of the house and just across the road I saw a hunched-up body by the side on the road.
‘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 of blood and had a deep cut to his face running from the side of his mouth to the back of his neck. He was motionless.
‘I knew at once that he was dead, but I reached down called his name and held his head.’
Dr Anjorin said he rang his wife to tell her what had happened and saw her collapse screaming as she saw paramedics treating her son. They were then told by the paramedic that their son’s condition was critical and he was unlikely to survive.
‘I cannot begin to describe the pain and anguish we as a family feel at the loss of Daniel,’ he said.
‘Daniel was a much-loved son and brother to two siblings. All three siblings had a close relationship with each other and there was an age gap of only four years between all three of them.’
He described Daniel as a talented student who had recently been chosen as part of a select group to visit Cambridge University to learn about the application process.
Dr Anjorin described his family’s devastation that they will never be able to see Daniel grow up when he had ‘so much potential to excel in so many areas’.
He said: ‘As a family, we had made sacrifices to ensure that Daniel and his siblings had a good education and went to good schools.
‘Daniel was very gifted academically. Daniel also enjoyed sport and played football, rugby, hockey, and cricket. He also enjoyed played the violin and piano and had reached grade six in violin and grade five in piano. He enjoyed school and had a good circle of friends.’
‘We will not see Daniel obtain his GCSEs, A levels or 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. We will not see him get married or have children,’ he said.
‘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.’
He added: ‘As parents, one of the most painful aspects of Daniel’s murder is sometimes seeing the pain of Daniel’s loss in our children’s eyes knowing that they are thinking of him and missing him.
‘This situation is something that we would not wish on anyone. It has been the worst nightmare and experience of our lives. To have to go through the pain of losing a child in such a cruel and savage way. No family should have to go through this.’
His statement ended: ‘I ask you to please consider all the consequences and the suffering that we as a family have gone through, and continue to go through because of the actions of the defendant. I believe that Marcus Monzo is a danger to society.’
Henry Polania came face to face with Monzo in his bedroom after the killer broke into his home.
He believes Monzo only spared their lives because his terrified four-year-old daughter began to cry.
Describing the moment he was confronted with the drug-crazed killer, Mr Polania told Sky News: ‘He grabbed the sword with both of his hands and went backwards with such force and tried to cut the head off my wife.
‘I was like I can’t let this happen. In my mind, I was like, I can’t let this happen. So I just tried to stop him.
‘I pulled my hands towards the blade and stop him. I tried to push the blade, but I couldn’t because it was too quick. How can I explain? It was like, that’s it.
‘I looked at my hand and it was all open. You could see my bones. I was bleeding, at the moment I thought oh my God, this is not a dream, this is real life. He’s going to kill us.’
Speaking to the BBC, he continued: ‘My little one started crying after she woke up, ‘Mama, Papa!’ I just started crying.
‘And then Monzo done two steps back because he wasn’t expecting the little one in the room.
‘And he just pointed the katana towards my little one’s face and then to Carolina and then to me.
‘And he said: ‘I’m just going to let you live, because of your little one.’ And he left.’
The Old Bailey heard the amateur musician believed he was a character from The Hunger Games, in which contestants fight to the death on a TV show.
A jury this week found him guilty of murder, attempted murder, aggravated burglary by entering a property with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, wounding with intent and having an article with a blade.
The court also heard statements from the other victims of the attack.
Donato Iwule, who was deliberately run down by Monzo before being slashed in the neck with the sword, said the attack had ‘profoundly disrupted my life on every level, physically, mentally emotionally and financially.’
He added: ‘It has changed how I live, how I feel and how I see the world around me.’
A female police officer, Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield, pursued Monzo through a series of alleyways before he launched a ‘ferocious attack’, striking her three times.
She said in a statement: ‘The injuries I sustained during this incident have had a significant and permanent effect on my life which has taken away my independence…I will not be able to fulfill my current role as a response officer which is something I loved doing.’
She continued: ‘My whole life is now based on not getting hurt and it doesn’t allow me to focus on anything else or enjoy my life.
‘There have been times I have been inside the house by myself uncontrollably crying because it feels like the life I had before has been taken away from me and I will never get it back.’
After attacking Pc Mechem-Whitfield, Monzo then charged into a nearby house and attacked couple Henry De Los Rios Polania and Sindy Arias in their bedroom, but their lives were spared when their four-year-old daughter woke up and started crying.
Mr Polania said in his statement: ‘It’s been over a year since the day that changed my life, over a year since I was attacked while I was sleeping and physically hurt, emotionally scarred and left with trauma I never asked for. Today, I stand here not just as a victim, but as a survivor who is still learning how to live again.’
He added: ‘I want the court to understand – this attack didn’t end when it was all over. I live with its consequences every single day, in my body, in my mind, in my finances, and in my future.’
Another officer who was injured as he ran to confront Monzo, Inspector Moloy Campbell, chose to read out his statement to the court himself.
He said: ‘When I challenged Mr Monzo, I knew it may be the last decision I would ever make, but one that had to be made. I briefly pictured my wife and step-daughter before engaging. It’s a horrible feeling, being in a confrontation which feels like a ‘him or me’ situation.’
The officer soon lost consciousness due to blood loss.
‘When I came round, I thought we had achieved our goal: the preservation of life,’ he said.
‘I then learnt this was not the case. I have never had the wind knocked out of me like that moment, I felt I was being sucked down into my hospital bed. This feeling remained as I was wheeled off to surgery. I’m so sorry this happened.’
After he finished reading his statement, the officer was addressed by Mr Justice Bennathan, who said: ‘In my view, you can be incredibly proud of the bravery shown by your officers and yourself.’
Monzo began his rampage around 6.45am on April 30 last year using a van to mow down his first victim, Donald Iwule, who was walking to work when he was hit and catapulted into a nearby garden.
Jurors were shown CCTV of Mr Iwule screaming in agony shouting: ‘I don’t know you’ as Monzo approached on foot wielding the 60cm blade.
The Brazilian replied: ‘I don’t care, I will kill you’ as he swung towards the victim’s neck and torso before Mr Iwule managed to escape.
Monzo then encountered schoolboy Daniel.
Mr Little, KC, previously told the court: ‘He was simply walking to school, minding his own business, looking forward to the day ahead. His life was snuffed out in an instant. In fact, most accurately, he was slain by the defendant.’
Monzo was said to have ‘moved quickly like a predator behind Daniel. He lifted the sword above his head, swung it downwards towards Daniel’s head and neck area. Daniel instantly fell to the ground.’
The attack was described as a ‘near decapitation’.
In mobile phone footage a woman can be heard saying: ‘F***, he just killed that boy, he just killed him right outside my house.’
Monzo’s rampage only ended when he was surrounded by officers in a garage area and tasered.
Mr Little said it was a ‘miracle’ that more people were not killed that day.
The prosecutor today argued that Monzo’s use of cannabis was an aggravating feature of his offending that the judge should take into account.
He said Monzo had told ‘a number of individuals he had been concerned about the effect of cannabis on him some years before’, yet ‘he had been increasing his use of cannabis and he was aware of its impact on his mental health’ before the attack.
Mr Little also asked the judge to take into account that a samurai sword ‘was a weapon that was far more dangerous than a knife’.
Ian Henderson KC, defending, said in mitigation that Monzo still had a degree of ‘non-comprehension’ about his rampage.
‘He understands the consequences of the act, he knows what’s happened, he knows the impact on others, but the reason for it he finds difficult to grasp,’ he said.
Mr Justice Bennathan will pass his sentence at the Old Bailey at 2pm today.
Chief Superintendent Stuart Bell, of the Met Police, said he was ‘incredibly proud’ of the officers’ response.
‘The scale and severity of the attack was intense and quite widespread and throughout the entire incident our officers responded with courage, placing their own safety second, trying to prevent harm to others first, showing great courage and bravery and teamwork to eventually detain Monzo.’
Speaking ahead of Monzo’s sentencing on Friday, Mr Bell paid tribute to the schoolboy who lost his life.
He said: ‘Daniel was universally described as a talented, gentle young man with great potential with a life ahead of him who was loved by so many.
‘His untimely death is a tragedy and words do not come close to describing how tragic, how random the events which befell Daniel were.
‘His family have been nothing but dignified, resilient and behaved with the most incredible courage and we are frankly in awe of them.
‘All we could do was try to bring some form of justice to Daniel and the family and now give them the space to move on and grieve.’
‘I am the father of Daniel Anjorin, the murdered victim of this crime. I am representing my family.
‘On the 30th April 2024 at approximately 7am, Daniel left for school. At approximately 7.15am, I was informed by my eldest son that Daniel had been stabbed on the road near our house.
‘I ran outside of the house and just across the road I saw a hunched-up body by the side on the road. 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 of blood and had a deep cut to his face running from the side of his mouth to the back of his neck.
‘He was motionless. I knew at once that he was dead, but I reached down, called his name and held his head.
‘After a few minutes I phoned his mother, who had left for work earlier and teaches in a local school and I asked her to come back home. My eldest son, who had not yet left for school, was also with me.
‘An ambulance arrived and the ambulance crew and other paramedics who also arrived at the scene attempted to resuscitate Daniel for approximately 20 minutes. After which time he was placed in an ambulance.
‘Daniel’s mother had arrived back, seeing the entrance to Laing Close blocked by police, she had parked the car and run up the road. On reaching the top of the road, she saw Daniel being treated by the paramedics and screamed and cried. I went over to comfort her.
‘Soon after, we were approached by a paramedic, who informed us that Daniel’s situation was critical and it was unlikely that he would survive. Daniel was taken to the Royal Free London and we followed in a police car.
‘At the hospital, doctors and nurses continued to work on Daniel but at 8.48am he was pronounced dead.
‘What was Daniel like? I cannot even begin to describe the pain and anguish that we as family feel about the loss of Daniel.
‘Daniel was a much-loved son and brother to two siblings. All three siblings had a close relationship with each other and there was an age gap of only four years between all three of them…
‘As a family, we had made sacrifices to ensure that Daniel and his siblings had a good education and went to good schools. Daniel was very gifted academically. Daniel also enjoyed sport and played football, rugby, hockey, and cricket.
‘He also enjoyed played the violin and piano and had reached grade 6 in violin and grade 5 in piano. He enjoyed school and had a good circle of friends.
‘In February 2024 he had even been selected with a small number of other students from his school to attend an educational excursion to Cambridge University to find out more about the university and the Cambridge University application process.
‘We will not see Daniel obtain his GCSEs, A-levels or 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.
‘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 (the defendant).
‘As a family we have all had difficulty coming to terms with Daniel’s loss and various members of family have undergone counselling/therapy over the course of the last 12 months, to cope with Daniel’s loss.
‘Daniel’s grandparents have also lost a much-loved grandchild. Daniel brought great joy to them through his academic success, his kindness and thoughtfulness. Daniel’s death has brought great sorrow and sadness to their lives and they miss him immensely.
‘Our cousins have lost a close family friend and playmate. Daniel’s school friends have lost a dear friend.
‘As parents, one of the most painful aspects of Daniel’s murder is sometimes seeing the pain of Daniel’s loss in our children’s eyes, knowing that they are thinking of him and missing him.
‘This situation is something that we would not wish on anyone. 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. No family should have to go through this.
‘Despite the tragic loss of Daniel, we are grateful for all the support that has been provided by the police, Victim Support, neighbours, our local church, our children’s schools, our workplaces, and the wider community.
‘I ask you to please consider all the consequences and the suffering that we as a family have gone through, and continue to go through because of the actions of the defendant. I believe that Marcus Monzo (the defendant) is a danger to society.
‘At no stage during the trial has the defendant shown any sense of remorse or apologised for any of his actions on the 30th April 2024.
‘The defendant despite being aware of the negative impact of cannabis on his mental health chose to continue to smoke cannabis regularly, and in increasing amounts. These actions contributed to the murder of my son Daniel and the attacks on residents, members of the public and police officers at Laing Close on the 30th April 2024.
‘I ask that you do not forget who the victims are here, because the defendant is not. He deserves to be punished. He has murdered our much-loved and gifted son Daniel who had so much to live for, and is missed by his family and many school friends.
‘The defendant also injured and maimed residents, members of the public, and police officers, some of whom have sustained life-long injuries.
‘This was a completely random, unprovoked and savage attack on a school child and other innocent people going about their normal business. The scale and savagery of these attacks shocked both the local community and the whole country.’