Warning: This article contains details readers may find distressing
Marcus Monzo denies murdering the teenager who was on his way to school after leaving his home in Hainault, east London, at 7am on 30 April last year.
The 37-year-old Spanish-Brazilian national, from Newham, is accused of murder, four counts of attempted murder and one count of wounding with intent, among other offences.
Mr Monzo is charged with a total of 10 offences, eight of which he denies.
‘Near-decapitation’
Prosecutor Tom Little KC, outlining the case against Monzo, said the accused had a “clear intention” to kill several people during a series of attacks which lasted 20 minutes.
Mr Little told the jury that Daniel was “simply walking to school” when he was “slain” with a sword, which he described as 60cm in length, and as a “lethal weapon”.
This weapon, he said, was used to attack Daniel from behind, slashing his neck, before stabbing him in the chest once he was on the ground.
Mr Monzo had “quickly moved like a predator”, the prosecutor told the court.
The initial blow, he said, was a “devastating” and “unsurvivable chopping injury” to the left side of Daniel’s face, causing a “near-decapitation”.
First alleged victim
Mr Little told the jury that before allegedly murdering Daniel that day, the defendant drove a grey van directly into a man called Donato Iwule, who was walking to the Co-op, where he worked.
The vehicle struck with “such force” that it sent Iwule and the van into a garden, smashing a fence and a concrete post.
The court was shown footage of Monzo getting out of the van and confronting Iwule, who shouted, “I don’t know you” to the defendant.
Following a brief chase, Mr Little said, the accused “swings” a sword towards Iwule’s neck and then torso.
However, Iwule escaped, and it was “remarkable” he was not killed or significantly injured, Little said.
Police officers with ‘significant injuries’
The defendant is also accused of injuring police officers who came to Hainault to help Daniel.
It’s alleged he jumped out at PC Yasmin Margaret Mechem-Whitfield, causing “significant injuries”.
PC Mechem-Whitfield “bravely pursued” the accused, the prosecutor added, and was hit three times by the sword.
‘Do you believe in God?’
The jury also heard that Monzo broke into a family home – “not to hide”, Mr Little said, but because he wanted to “kill more”.
Monzo entered a small bedroom where Sindy Arias and Henry De Los Rios Polania were asleep with their four-year-old daughter, and allegedly asked them: “Do you believe in God?”
“What happened there must have been horrifying and confusing,” Mr Little told the court, as Monzo attempted to swing his sword at both Mr De Los Rios Polania and Ms Arias.
Read more on Sky News:
Putin wants revenge for Kyiv’s airbase attacks, Trump warns
Body found in search for missing Briton in Portugal
Abandoned buildings examined in Madeleine McCann search
Mr Little said that the defendant “must have intended to kill both”, but was “stopped in his tracks” by the sound of a crying four-year-old who had been woken up by the commotion. He then left the property.
A second officer, Inspector Moloy Campbell, was allegedly stabbed with a sword during an attempt to apprehend Monzo and injured his hand.
The defendant was eventually detained while trying to climb onto a garage to escape.
He also “killed and skinned” a cat before the attacks, Mr Little told the court.
‘Diminished responsibility’
The prosecutor told the jury that the defence will be using the argument of diminished responsibility, which would reduce the murder offence to one of manslaughter.
Mr Little added that the defence has the burden of proof to show the jury that their client did not mean to murder Daniel, and that it was more likely than not that he did not intend to commit murder.
He also said that Monzo allegedly smoked cannabis that morning – described as a “self-induced intoxication” – and likely suffered from a psychotic disorder with “schizophrenic-like symptoms”, including “delusional beliefs” that both he and his family were in “mortal danger”.
However, Mr Little argued, this won’t be enough to diminish Monzo’s responsibility.
The prosecutor said the defendant was “fit to plead”, and so the “defence of insanity” does not apply.
