Marcus Arduini Monzo, the Newham Child Killer, has been convicted of murdering a 14-year-old kid with a samurai sword when the victim was en route to school in East London.
Marcus Arduini Monzo, 37, nearly severed the head of Daniel Anjorin and assaulted five additional individuals during a 20-minute spree in Hainault on 30 April of the previous year.
Prosecutors stated that he skinned and deboned his pet cat, Wizard, before attempting to “kill as many people as he could” while under the influence of cannabis.
Marcus Arduini Monzo, a Spanish-Brazilian citizen from Newham in East London, acknowledged two accusations of possessing an offensive weapon concerning two swords, which he said were acquired for decorative purposes.
He asserted that he had no recollection of executing the attacks and refuted the murder of Daniel, along with four counts of attempted murder, wounding with intent, aggravated burglary, and possession of a bladed weapon.
He was acquitted of one count of attempted murder, but found guilty of wounding with intent to inflict serious bodily harm, and convicted of all other charges after a trial at the Old Bailey.
The court was informed that Marcus Arduini Monzo was a “skilled martial artist,” and the jurors viewed footage showing him unwrapping a samurai sword on April 4 of the previous year.
In the four-minute video, he describes the weapon as “freaking sexy” while lunging towards the camera and doing various movements.
The court was presented with CCTV footage from the morning of 30 April, with audible screaming in one segment as Monzo accelerated his grey Ford Transit van at pedestrian Donato Iwule.
Mr Iwule told jurors: “I thought I was dying” and “I saw blood coming out of my neck”, after he was struck with a sword before running away.
Witnesses described how Marcus Arduini Monzo was running around “like a maniac” and “looked a bit mad, like there was nothing there”.
Daniel, who had left home at around 7am wearing headphones and school sports clothes, suffered “a near-decapitation” when Monzo attacked him with the weapon from behind, prosecutor Tom Little KC told the jury.
PC Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield chased the armed attacker through alleyways before Marcus Arduini Monzo struck her three times with the 60cm blade using “extreme force”, the court heard.
He then entered a nearby house through the back door and walked upstairs before attacking sleeping couple Sindy Arias and Henry De Los Rios Polania, who he asked: “Do you believe in God?”
Mr Little said their lives were only spared because their four-year-old daughter, who was sleeping nearby, woke up and started to cry.
Marcus Arduini Monzo, who had been cornered by police, also struck Inspector Moloy Campbell once with the sword before he was finally disarmed and arrested after trying to climb onto a garage to escape.
Doorbell footage shows the moment officers shout: “Don’t move, don’t f move”, after he was brought to the ground by three separate taser discharges.
Marcus Arduini Monzo told police he had “many personalities”, including a “professional assassin”, and compared the events to The Hunger Games film franchise.
He wept while giving evidence as he said he did not intend to harm anybody and told jurors he had no memory of what happened.
He told how he had previously used psychedelic drugs and smoked cannabis “three or four times a week” before the attack, but denied doing so on the day.
Prosecutors said he likely suffered from a psychotic disorder with “schizophrenic-like symptoms”, including “delusional beliefs” that both he and his family were in “mortal danger”.
But Mr Little said his psychotic state was self-induced and did not meet the threshold for diminished responsibility.
UPDATE 27.06.25
Marcus Monzo has been jailed for at least 38 years after a series of attacks that included the murder of 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin and the attempted murder of three others last April.
The 37-year-old, of Satanita Close, Canning Town, also injured five more people, including two police officers, during a 20-minute rampage in April 2024
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