A man was caught with a huge gladiator-style sword the day after a 14-year-old boy was ‘murdered with a samurai blade’.
Keneil Forrest, 22, was stopped at Limehouse Station in Tower Hamlets, east London, shortly before 9.30pm on Wednesday when officers found the 17-inch sword inside his tracksuit bottoms.
He admitted possessing an offensive weapon at Highbury Magistrates Court on Thursday as Marcus Arduini Monzo, 36, appeared at the Old Bailey charged with murder over the rampage in Hainault on Tuesday morning.
Forrest, who had no previous for similar offences and claimed to be carrying the fearsome weapon for protection, was sent straight to prison for six months.
Asking for an immediate custodial sentence, prosecutor Zahid Hussain said: ‘After the horrific and tragic sword attack in Hainault, the public are looking for confidence.’
Forrest, of Bromley, southeast London, also pleaded guilty to having a small amount of cannabis.
Monzo, a dual Spanish-Brazilian, is also charged with two attempted murders, two counts of grievous bodily harm, aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article.
Daniel Anjorin, 14, a pupil at Bancroft’s independent school, was stabbed to death as he left his home on Tuesday.
Further details of what is said to have happened in the minutes before and after Daniel was killed emerged during Monzo’s court appearance.
He allegedly crashed a van into a fence in Laing Close just before 7am on Tuesday, hitting Donato Iwule.
The court heard he then got out of the van, said that he would kill the man and slashed him to the neck.
Prosecutor David Burns told the court that 15 minutes later it is alleged Monzo broke into a nearby home where a couple were asleep with their four-year-old daughter.
He went into the bedroom and attacked the child’s father, Henry De Los Rios Polania, shouting about believing in God and causing injuries to his neck and arm, it is alleged.
Monzo is accused of then running up behind Daniel and slashing his neck, before stabbing him in the chest as he lay on the ground.
Police officers arrived and tried to help the teenager, when it is alleged that Monzo appeared from a bush and they chased him.
The court was told that he jumped out at PC Yasmin Margaret Mechem-Whitfield and attacked her with the sword while she was on the ground.
He is also accused of injuring a second officer, Inspector Moloy Elec Campbell.
Monzo has been charged with attempting to murder Mr Iwule and PC Mechem-Whitfield, and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Mr De Los Rios Polania and Inspector Campbell.
He has also been charged with aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article.
The sister of Mr De Los Rios Polania has described her brother as a ‘hero’ for protecting his family.
Jessica De Los Rios, 31, said: ‘He’s very devastated to believe something like this could happen. To us, he’s our hero. He protected them, my niece and my sister-in-law.
‘They were just literally sleeping, opened their eyes to see a man with a big machete sword.
‘He felt helpless in the moment but to us he is our hero. It could have been extremely worse.’
Staff and pupils at Bancroft’s, an independent school, said they have been left in ‘profound shock and sorrow’ at Daniel’s death.
The school was also hit by tragedy last summer after former pupil Grace O’Malley-Kumar was stabbed to death in Nottingham as she tried to save her friend Barnaby Webber from a knife attacker.
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