A MAN who carried out a frenzied knife attack on his mother, stabbing her 17 times after being ‘spoken to’ by the Christmas tree, has been detained in a secure psychiatric unit.
Warwick Crown Court heard that Leon Szewerniak launched his attack while he was staying with his parents at their home in Station Avenue, Tile Hill, Coventry, for Christmas in 2017.
Szewerniak (48) of Bamford Avenue, London, was sentenced under the Mental Health Act to be detained at a secure psychiatric unit for an indefinite period.
And Judge Sylvia de Bertodano also imposed a restriction order, which means he can only be discharged with the consent of the Justice Secretary and will be liable to be recalled if his future behaviour given cause for concern.
Prosecutor Ben Aina QC said Szewerniak suffers from manic schizophrenia and psychosis, and lived in supported accommodation in London where his parents John and Joan visited him every two weeks.
In the intervening weeks, he stayed with them at their home in Coventry from the Friday to the Tuesday.
On Friday December 22, Szewerniak arrived at his parents’ home where he was going to spend the Christmas period.
They had their evening meal at around 6.30pm, with him and his father eating in the kitchen and his 75-year-old mother having her meal in the lounge.
“After he had eaten his meal he entered the lounge and stood by the fireplace.
“He looked oddly at his mother, and then, for no apparent reason, he straddled her and repeatedly stabbed her with a knife,” said Mr Aina.
Szewerniak stabbed her a total of 17 times before his father, hearing her screams, rushed through from the kitchen and managed to pull him away.
The police and an ambulance were called, and Szewerniak was arrested, but was assessed as suffering from a mental illness and transferred to a psychiatric hospital.
Joan Szewerniak was rushed to hospital with wounds to various parts of her body, including life-threatening injuries which included a punctured bowel, said Mr Aina.
Szewerniak was detained at Reaside secure psychiatric unit in Birmingham, where he has remained since his arrest, and was not considered fit to be interviewed until March this year, when he gave no comment replies.
Asked by Judge Sylvia de Bertodano whether Szewerniak would ‘ever cease to be dangerous,’ psychiatrist Dr John Kennedy, who had prepared a report on him, replied: “I think the risks of relapse are long-term.”
And he confirmed that even when Szewerniak is eventually discharged, he will continue to be monitored, and would be recalled to hospital if his ongoing treatment was not working.
Gerard Cullen, defending, said: “There is this overriding mental health disorder. You have to put this in the context of what was going through his mind at the time.
“His Christmas tree was talking to him, telling him his family was in danger.
“In his mind it wasn’t a 75-year-old vulnerable person, it was someone who he had to attack because his family was going to be killed.
“Would this offence have taken place but for his mental disorder? In my submission it would not,” Mr Cullen contended.
Sentencing Szewerniak, who was flanked by staff from Reaside, Judge de Bertodano told him: “She suffered life-threatening injuries. We don’t know how she is now, because she doesn’t want to talk to anyone in the prosecution about this.
“You have taken responsibility for it by pleading guilty at the first opportunity, and the reason you committed this offence is your long-standing psychiatric condition.
“You are a very vulnerable individual with regards to your mental health. Not only do you suffer from schizophrenia, but also from severe psychosis.
“You also suffered a brain injury by you jumping from a railway bridge as a result of your psychosis, and that has left you with brain damage.”
“… It was your mental disorder which caused this offence. Without correct treatment, you would remain a danger to yourself and to other people.”
