UK: Black Teen Sentenced to Hospital Order for Attacking Man with Machete

Dagim Tadesse

The poor lad is mentally ill, you see.

It simply isn’t normal for an African tribesman to hack at someone else with a machete.

BirminghamLive:

An innocent teenager was left with a 10 inch wound across his back after he was randomly attacked in Birmingham city centre, a court heard.

The attacker was Dagim Tadesse and was caught after an asylum worker recognised him from CCTV images carried in a BirminghamLive appeal.

The victim had sat on a bench in Priory Square sorting out some clothes he had in a ruck sack when he was attacked from behind on June 8, 2018.

He got up and was preparing to leave when he became aware out of the corner of his eye of a male “hovering” close to him.

“He realised the man was carrying a shiny item in his hand and he then felt a blow to the centre of his back.

“He turned and saw Tadesse holding a large machete in his right hand. Tadesse was wearing a white shirt and he described running and being chased.

“As he did so he could feel the machete hitting his bag which was dangling by his leg,” said Ian Ball, prosecuting at Birmingham Crown Court.

He said the victim ran into Lower Bull Street while the defendant then disappeared.

Tadesse, 19, of St Andrews Health Care in Birmingham, had previously admitted a charge of assault.

He was sentenced to a hospital order by Judge Francis Laird QC with restrictions and without limit of time.

He said: “He was going about his normal business in Priory Square. You approached him from behind and you struck him to the back. Fortunately the bag he was carrying, the ruck sack, deflected some of the blows.

“I have read three reports from consultant psychiatrists and I am satisfied you are suffering from a mental disorder, namely paranoid schizophrenia.”

The judge said he was imposing the restrictions because of the nature of the offence, his history of mental illness and the risk that he might commit further offences if he was not detained.