Martins Keyen: Student who cut cop with knife avoids jail
A Macquarie University PhD student who cut a police officer with a knife while believing he was the ‘God of Mars’ has avoided a jail sentence after a court heard he was in the midst of a major psychotic episode.
Northern District Times
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- Man who attacked cop with knife ‘traumatised’ by incident
- Student who stabbed police officer to be sentenced
A student who cut a police officer with a knife while believing he was the “God of Mars” has avoided a jail sentence.
Martins Noel Keyen, 25, was instead handed a two-year conditional release order after the court heard he had suffered a “major psychotic episode” and was “floridly delusional” at the time.
The Macquarie University PhD student had been set to fly home to Nigeria last August when the incident occurred.
The Downing District Court was told he had been walking on Culloden Rd, Marsfield, with a wheelie suitcase in one hand and a 20cm knife in the other.
Three police officers approached him and told him to get off the road.
Keyen reacted, telling one of the officers “Are you coming at me?”
The officer then felt a “thud” on his police vest before a second officer tackled Keyen. The second officer then felt three “impacts” on his right bicep, shoulder and chest.
Noticing the knife, the officers told him to drop it before he was tasered and arrested.
The officer who had felt the three impacts realised he was bleeding from a cut to his shoulder and was taken to hospital.
In police interview, Keyen said he owned the knife, but did not remember the incident due to a mental health episode which had been escalating for “a number of weeks.”
At his sentencing on Friday Judge Ian McClintock accepted Keyen felt “genuine remorse” after writing an apology letter to police.
“I want to tell you one simple thing: I am terribly sorry,” his letter read.
“It is truly not a reflection of my thought process towards you or people like you. I’ve been watching the news lately and I notice people in your line of duty progressively keep getting exposed to danger.
“I actually remember you being pushed in the hospital with me. I hope your scars heal fast like mine.”
A psychiatrist report read in court said he was living in campus accommodation at the time and was upset about “perceived corruption by the Nigerian government” when he got a knife and cut up his passport.
The report also stated he had been unable to sleep for days, was suffering from manic psychosis and thought he was “God of Mars” and his knife was “his weapon.”
He has since been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was believed to have suffered psychosis at the time of his “manic episode”.
Judge McClintock accepted the defence’s submission that there was no “stabbing” as such and that the officer suffered a “minor injury.”
He described it as an “exceptional case” and said there was “no doubt” he had been suffering from a “major psychotic episode” and was “floridly delusional.”
He conceded it would have been “frightening” for the officers and commended them for using “measured” force to protect the community.
He said Keyen appeared to not have the capacity to make reasoned judgments and said his moral culpability was at the “lowest end” of the spectrum.
Taking into account his early plea and accepting he had undertaken “some punishment” including involuntary incarceration he sentenced him to a two-year conditional release order.
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