Violent offender tasered by police after threatening disabled man with Samurai sword in Doncaster

Romanian national Denis Rusu, aged 30, attacked the disabled 59-year-old for 'no reason' prompting armed officers to respond when neighbours saw him 'waving' the weapon around in Hexthorpe.

Sheffield Crown Court heard police officers had to taser the sword-wielding attacker in broad daylight which happened at around 8.40am on April 26 of this year.

Judge Recorder Taryn Turner sentenced Rusu to 15-months in prison. But because defendant has spent six months on remand already, the 30-year-old will be released in a matter of weeks.

The court heard Rusu was initially 'not fit to plead' due to his mental health but pleaded guilty at a later date.

Jon Gregg, prosecuting, said witnesses saw Rusu behaving in an 'erratic fashion' shouting 'there is only one God' and 'he is going to stop the clocks' shortly before assaulting the man.

"After the punch, the defendant left the scene and returned to his house. He emerged a short time later carrying a Samurai sword and began to wave it at the retreating complainant," he said.

"His behaviour at this point galvanized the neighbours to call the police and when officers arrived they soon realised he was under the influence of an unknown substance."

In his first police interview, Rusu said the victim 'attacked him first' and could not recall the incident fully.

It later emerged Rusu was suffering from a 'substance induced psychosis' which was brought by his use of 'legal highs' which were made illegal in May 2016.

Lucy Brown, defending, said Rusu had a history of drug misuse and has struggled with his mental health conditions.

"This is a very serious incident and of course, incredibly alarming for all involved but in my submission this was a relatively short incident.

"He's spent 25 weeks on remand already. Custody has been particularly difficult for him and the language barriers has made it hard for him to communicate.

"The time on remand has taken him away from the substances giving him an insight into how these affect him."

Sentencing Rusu, Judge Recorder Turner said the incident was 'very frightening'.

She said: "Fortunately for the victim, the injuries were relatively minor and that nobody was injured by you from the sword.

"This incident happened when people were going about their daily routines and they were greatly alarmed by what they saw. This was so serious it was necessary for the police to turn up mob handed and to subdue you with a taser. This was the scene that you presented."