Bella Nicandro (Picture: Met Police / PA)
A man shouted ‘I am God’ after stabbing his elderly neighbour and allegedly attempting to knife a child.
Aaron Cook, 23, launched into the feverish attack against 76-year-old Bella Nicandro in Notting Hill, west London, in August 2021.
He pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
Nicandro was found by police fatally injured at her St Luke’s Road flat.
In the early afternoon of August 4, Cook left Nicandro’s home and skulked the streets, his arms drenched in blood.
He attempted to stab a young child but their mother saved them.
Cook skulked the Notting Hill area after the incident (Picture: Ben Cawthra/LNP)
Behaving erratically, Cook raised his arms in the air and shouted, ‘I am God, I am God’, as people restrained him.
Responding to reports of a disturbance, police searched the block of flats where Cook lived and found Nicandro with head and neck wounds.
Paramedics treated her at the scene but she died from her injuries, London’s Old Bailey heard yesterday.
Following the attack, Cook was taken to hospital where he was reportedly racially abusive toward police officers.
Last September, Judge Alexia Durrann ordered Cook to undergo further psychiatric assessments and extended the custody time limits to early December.
At that time he was ‘unfit to plead in accordance with the most recent report’.
Cook denied murder but admitted to manslaughter at the November hearing.
He also pleaded not guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to a child and racially aggravated harassment.
Prosecutor Anthony Orchard KC said the manslaughter plea was accepted by the Crown and he asked for the other charges to lie on file.
Judge Alexia Durran adjourned sentencing until January 23.
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People had to restrain him as he screamed.
