Parliament knifeman ‘said he was trying suicide by cop’
A KNIFEMAN arrested outside Parliament said he was attempting “suicide by police”, a court heard.
Eniola Mustafa Aminu, 27, was tasered near the Carriage Gates entrance to Westminster in June.
The incident happened yards from where jihadist Khalid Masood, 52, stabbed and killed PC Keith Palmer in March. Aminu was known to mental health services and was in court for resisting arrest days earlier. Police described the event as “not terror-related”.
After his arrest, Aminu said he brought the six-inch knife so that police would shoot him. Prosecutor Sian Morgan said: “He told medical practitioners he wanted to die. He said, ‘I wanted the police to shoot me, I did not want to live any more’.”
Neil Allan, defending, said Aminu was “a vulnerable young man with serious mental health issues”.
Aminu, being held in a mental health unit in Kent, admitted possessing an offensive weapon in a public place. A charge of assaulting an officer was dropped.
Judge Tan Ikram said he would go to jail or a secure mental facility.
He remanded Aminu in custody for sentencing at Southwark crown court next month and ordered a mental health report. He added that all options would be left open.