A self-confessed “psycho” killed his neighbour with a sword two months after being discharged from a psychiatric hospital, having already punched another man unconscious, a court has heard. Abdul Khan stabbed father-of-two Bohdan Vandzhura 39 times in the street as horrified passers-by tried desperately to help.
Months earlier, the 27-year-old had assaulted Santa Shrestha at random, putting him in hospital for four days, after “voices” in his head said he should “make a corpse of him”, his trial at the Old Bailey was told.
He attacked Mr Shrestha for a second time about six months later in a local shop, but police failed to identify him for a second time, the court heard.
Khan was sectioned in May 2023 after assaulting someone in a pub but was released just four days later, leaving him free to carry out a further attack, jurors were told.
All of the incidents happened close to Khan’s home in Harrow, North West London, the trial heard.
Khan, who has already admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility in relation to Mr Vandzhura, is charged with attempting to murder Mr Shrestha.
Prosecutors say his father, Khalil Khan, 62, of the same address, who is accused of assisting an offender, hid his son’s bloodied tracksuit and trainers in a garage before lying to police about it.
Khan appeared via video-link from Broadmoor secure hospital while his father sat in the glass-fronted dock in court.
In August 2022, Mr Shrestha was walking along Pinner Road in Harrow, “minding his own business” having just been to a shop, when Khan started following him, prosecutor Hugh Davies KC told the trial.
Jurors were shown CCTV footage of Mr Shrestha being knocked to the ground and repeatedly punched and stamped on while his shopping spilled across the pavement.
Khan walked away from the unconscious Mr Shrestha, “shouting and gesturing at him”, the court heard.
Mr Shrestha was in hospital for four days, was left suffering from memory loss, and was not able to tell police who had attacked him, the trial was told.
About six months later, Mr Shrestha was inside another shop, metres away from where he was first attacked, and was talking to a friend when Khan arrived and punched him in the face in another act of “irrational hostility”, Mr Davies said.
Police again failed to identify Khan.
Khan later told a psychiatrist that “his voices” had told him it would be a “blessing if you torture him and make a corpse of him”.
He said he only failed to kill him because he did not have a weapon on him, the trial was told.
When he saw Mr Shrestha in the shop months later, he was “furious” and thought he would “give him a fair shake”, he told the psychiatrist.
“I was a psycho back then, too aggressive and explosive – when sufficiently provoked it results in outbursts of physical violence,” he added.
In May 2023, he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act, having been arrested at a pub for grabbing a man by the throat and threatening to firebomb the venue, the court heard.
“He was obviously significantly psychiatrically disturbed,” Mr Davies said.
“Of course, they knew nothing about what had happened with Mr Shrestha.
But Khan was wrongly diagnosed as having an alcohol-related disorder and, just four days later, he walked free after his father applied for his discharge, jurors were told.
Less than two months later, in July 2023, Ukrainian Mr Vandzhura, who lived next-door to Khan and his father, left home for work at 6.18am, the court heard.
Khan left his own home a minute later, and began following him along the road, carrying a holdall.
When he caught up with Mr Vandzhura less than three minutes later, he pulled a large sword from the bag and attacked him from behind.
Jurors were shown CCTV footage of the moment Khan raised the “fearsome weapon” before repeatedly striking the father of two with it.
“There was a violent strike of this sword for each of the 39 seconds of this relentless assault,” Mr Davies said.
“Shocked” members of the public “acted heroically” to try to stop the attack by shouting and hooting their horns, but he could not be stopped, the court heard.
“He was not receptive to reason,” the prosecutor said.
After running home, Khan was arrested, deemed to be severely mentally ill, and taken to Broadmoor Hospital.
Jurors were told that, 16 minutes after Khan arrived home, his father left with an orange carrier bag which was later found to contain his bloodied tracksuit and trainers.
“That bloodied clothing had to be got away from the home address as soon as possible,” the prosecutor said.
Khalil Khan took the clothing and trainers to a lock-up garage owned by his brother, jurors were told.
“He was disposing of the clothing,” Mr Davies said.
The psychiatrist who later worked with Abdul Khan said he was “one of the most mentally unwell men I have treated in my career”.
Abdul Khan denies attempted murder, while Khalil Khan denies assisting an offender.
The trial continues.