By M10News UK Desk | © M10News 2025
A survivor of the Hainault samurai sword rampage has described the terrifying moment attacker Marcus Arduini Monzo looked him in the eye and declared: “I’m going to kill you.”
Donato Iwule, who narrowly escaped with his life, spoke to Sky News after Monzo was found guilty on Wednesday of murder and three counts of attempted murder following the attack in east London on 30 April last year.
The violent rampage claimed the life of a 14-year-old schoolboy, Daniel Anjorin, and left several others injured.
Mr. Iwule was the first person targeted during the 20-minute ordeal, which he compared to a “horror movie.”
He was walking to work when Monzo drove a grey Ford Transit van straight into him at speed, before leaping out of the vehicle and slashing him in the neck with a samurai sword.
“I was on the floor after being hit, and I looked up and saw him,” Mr. Iwule recalled. “I asked him, ‘Are you okay?’ But he didn’t answer. He looked angry and said, ‘I need to kill.’ I was shocked.”
Moments later, Mr. Iwule saw Monzo brandishing a samurai sword.
“I stepped back and asked, ‘What are you doing? Hello?’ And he was like, ‘I’m going to kill you, yeah, yeah,'” he said.
Mr. Iwule tried to get away as Monzo began swinging the sword violently.
“He came at me again, and as I turned to look around to see if there were others, I saw him out of the corner of my eye trying to swing. I moved back, but he caught me right in the neck.”
In that moment of panic, Mr. Iwule remembered advice from his cousin, a doctor, and used his thumb and clothing to apply pressure to the wound.
Medical staff later told him he was within seconds of bleeding to death.
“He thought that he won, but he didn’t,” Mr. Iwule said. “I was supposed to be dead.”
The young father said the ordeal left him deeply traumatised.
“I couldn’t even stay at my own house. I had to live with my mum. For months, I had sleepless nights, reliving the same moment every day,” he shared.
Mr. Iwule said he feels “relieved” that Monzo has now been convicted. Monzo, 37, will be sentenced on Friday, as reported by Sky News.
Monzo, 37, will be sentenced on Friday.
