Samurai sword attack left Stafford man with partially severed head

A Stafford man has been given an indefinite hospital order after trying to kill a father-of-three with a samurai sword.

Arcadius Situn attacked a 27-year-old man with the sword in an unprovoked attack in Marston Road on October 10 2018 and the man has remained in hospital ever since.

Situn, 31, struck the victim over the head with the sword as he sat outside smoking a cigarette before slashing his neck, taunting him with the weapon and then making off into the town centre and dumping it in a bin, Stafford Crown Court heard this morning.

The victim lay at the rear of the property where they were both staying for 40 minutes before help arrived.

'Explosion of violence'

Mr Paul Spratt, prosecuting, said: “Arcadius Situn attacked the victim in an explosion of violence with a sword.

“It was in the most shocking and brutal manner.

"Had the victim not been treated by such skilled surgeons he might well have died.

“He suffered an extensive penetrating injury to his skull and exposed brain, secondly the defendant used the sword to cut the neck of the victim as he lay on the ground - that too was a significant laceration.”

Mr Spratt said Situn took the sword and a knife into the town centre with the intention of further violence on the residents of Stafford.

Armed police arrest

He anticipated he would be killed by police and admitted he was trying to kill the victim in a police interview, according to Mr Spratt.

University-educated Situn returned to the address and went to his bedroom before armed police arrived and arrested him.

Situn, who has schizoaffective disorder, was living at a house run by a mental health illness charity with the condition that he was not allowed weapons when he ordered the sword online.

Schizoaffective disorder is a mental disorder with symptoms similar to both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

The sword was delivered on September 21 and Situn carried out the attack less than two months later.

The victim also suffered with mental health issues, and had the intellectual function of a 12 or 13-year-old boy, the court heard.

He now has “very limited ability to walk, dress himself and carry out ordinary functions of daily life”, according to Mr Spratt.

Voices

Forensic psychiatrist Vivek Furtado said Situn was hearing voices at the time of the attack.

He said: “The voices said you do not have the guts to do it, do it.

“This was in retaliation to the voices.”

And Mr Mark Nicholls, defending Situn, said: “The harm was accepted as being one of the worst cases of its type, but the culpability has to be low because the offence would not have been committed if it wasn’t for his mental illness.

“After his arrest and detention his first question was always how is the victim.”

Situn pleaded guilty to attempted murder and three counts of making indecent images of children, 60 of which were Category A - the most serious images.

Nine-inch wound

Judge Jonathan Gosling sentenced him to an indefinite hospital order, and said his release, if ever, would be dependent on his treatment.

He said: “He had trouble distinguishing between computer or phone games and reality.

“The defendant partially severed the victim’s head and left him with a nine-inch wound to his head and a neurological disability. His survival was absolutely miraculous.

“It defies belief that any person can order a weapon over the internet and have it supplied to him with no checks.”

Judge Gosling said he will be contacting the Home Secretary so that consideration can be given to the appropriate restrictions that may be imposed.