NAKED SWORDSMAN 'THOUGHT CHURCHGOERS WERE DEMONS'
Thursday, June 01, 2000 18:58 Press Association
A naked man wielding a Samurai sword tried to kill members of a church
congregation because he believed they were demons, the Old Bailey heard
today.
Unemployed Eden Strang, 26, left eleven churchgoers, including an
elderly nun, seriously injured after attacking them with the sword and a knife.
He was only overcome after the Sunday morning worshippers at St
Andrew's Roman Catholic Church, in Thornton Heath, south London, tackled
him with a crucifix and an organ pipe, said Nicholas Hilliard, prosecuting.
Strang had gone to the church near his home in Brook Road at 10.30am on
November 28 last year, believing the congregation was made up of demons
who had taken on human forms.
Strang denied seven charges of attempted murder, and six charges of
assault.
Mr Hilliard told the jury that the facts of the case were not in
dispute, but they would have to decide whether to accept medical evidence that he was
insane.
If they decided he was insane they would have to return verdicts of not
guilty through insanity, and this would allow the judge to ensure he was
treated
in such a way as to protect the public, he said.Strang sat in the dock
dressed in
a smart suit as Mr Hilliard told the court that prosecution and defence
psychiatrists were unanimous that Strang was legally insane at the time.
Mr Hilliard said: "He was suffering from schizophrenia and voices told
him to go and attack the people in the church.
"He was suffering insane delusions that the people he was attacking
were not human beings but demons who had taken on human form.
"He did not appreciate the true nature of what he was doing. He was so
deluded that he did not know he was doing anything wrong."
Mr Hilliard said Strang had first encountered Paul Chilton, 55, outside
the church and caused him "grave injuries".
Then he had gone inside where a service was being held, and attacked a
number of people.
"Some of the victims' injuries were directly as a result of blows from
the sword," he said.
"Some were caused while attempting to escape ferocious and sustained
attacks.
"The attack ended only because of the bravery of some of the
congregation."Mr Hilliard said Strang had caused very serious, and in some
cases lasting, injuries "as well as causing terror".
The court heard that the first victim, Paul Chilton, 55, was slashed
several times outside the church.
He suffered major injuries, including having part of his hand cut away
and permanent injury to his jaw bone.
Strang next used his sword on Joe Gesh, 35, who was sheltering his baby
in the porch. He suffered severed tendons and a shoulder injury.
Inside church, Sister Theresa McManus, 76, suffered a back injury as
she tried to get away.
Margaret Lucas, 67, had her right arm almost cut off. Gregory
Fernandez, 69, lost the fingertips of his left hand, Eileen Bunker, 76, broke her hip
during the struggle.
Another victim, Winifred Kamath, 74, said in a statement that she felt
her head exploding and saw blood. Her grandson had pulled her away saying:
"Come on, grandma, before he kills us."
Brave parishioners had used whatever was available to try to overpower
Strang.
One person had used someone's Zimmer frame but it was knocked away,
another grabbed a crucifix but it was knocked out of his hand with the
sword.
Off-duty Pc Tom Tracey, 41, managed to push Strang away with an organ
pipe and he was then overpowered by others.
The court heard that, in hospital, Strang was asked why he had done it
and said: "I am passing judgment." He accused the churchgoers of worshipping
false idols.In a statement read in court by Nadine Radford QC, defending,
Strang's wife Michelle said her husband had no specific religion but saw
himself as "the servant of God".
They had met while he was studying business at Paisley University in
Scotland and had a young daughter.
Over the years, he had become more interested in religion and shortly
before the attack had read an article about pagan worship.
He had been made redundant from his computer job in June 1999 and had
taken to spending the day in bed reading the Bible, as well as spending
hours on his computer.
She said Strang had had a tragic life: his stepfather had taken an
overdose and died in front of him when he was 11, and his drug addict mother had died
of Aids a year later.
He was bought up by his grandmother in Glasgow and said he had been
stabbed three times there - the first time when he was 15 and nearly died as
a result.
Mrs Strang said her husband had talked of taking her away from "Satan's
world" and on another occasion that he was married to God.
He had left the house after taking a bath and then a woman knocked on
her door pleading with her to call the police because there "was a mad man with
a sword" at the church, she said.
The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow.
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