Hainault swordsman attacked ambulance, Old Bailey hears

A paramedic who went to treat schoolboy Daniel Anjorin, who was killed in a sword attack in north-east London, has spoken of her fear when the defendant allegedly turned on the ambulance.

Marcus Monzo, 37, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of murdering the 14-year-old and attempting to kill four others during a 20-minute series of attacks in Hainault in April last year.

He denies all charges.

Stephanie Baisden told the court how “extremely terrifying” it was when Mr Monzo started attacking the ambulance with a sword.

Warning: this story contains details some may find distressing

She said they saw Daniel lying in the road injured and, as she went to get the medical equipment in the back of the ambulance, her colleague started shouting “drive, drive”.

She said she looked out of the window and the suspect was “holding a very large sword, a machete-type weapon”.

“He was trying to force it into our window,” she said.

“I could hear it hitting the windows and force it into the driver’s seat where I was sitting.

“It was extremely terrifying, I could hear shouting, it was an extremely stressful situation.”

Her London Ambulance Service colleague, Lachlan Allan, in a statement to the court, said as the defendant tried to smash the window with his sword they managed to drive away to the end of the road.

The court was also shown footage of how police officers confronted Mr Monzo as he stood brandishing his sword on the street.

Body worn camera footage showed PC Cameron King, the first officer to arrive, shouting repeatedly at him to drop the sword and attempting to disarm with pepper spray.

PC King said he was “petrified” when he saw the defendant with the sword.

Mr Monzo was reported to have shouted: “Is there anybody here who believes in God, are there any gods here?”

He then ran off down an alleyway, pursued by the officers.

The jury was also played footage of the attack on PC Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield.

She was the first officer to pursue the defendant down the alleyway.

She pointed her Taser and as she neared the end of the alleyway, the suspect jumped out at her, slashing her four times with the sword as she stumbled to the ground, she told the court.

Her colleague shouted into his radio “officer stabbed, police officer stabbed”, footage played to the court showed.

PC King said he did not have a Taser and his pepper spray had run out but he drew his baton and placed himself between Mr Monzo and PC Mechem-Whitfield as she was on the ground.

Earlier, eyewitness Robert Fenton told the court Daniel “instantly fell to the floor” after he was attacked.

Mr Monzo also denies wounding with intent, aggravated burglary and possession of an offensive weapon relating to a kitchen knife. He previously admitted two counts of having an offensive weapon, namely two swords.

The trial continues.