Boy’s weapons ‘to protect from zombies’
A SCHOOLBOY accused of trying to kill two pupils and a teacher at a boarding school in Devon has told a jury he kept a stash of weapons to protect himself against a zombie apocalypse.
The 17-year-old said he believed scientific evidence had been uncovered from ice in Siberia about a “mind-controlling organism” that threatened the living.
The teenager nearly killed two pupils at Blundell’s School, in Tiverton, when he went on a hammer rampage in the early hours of June 9 last year. He also hit a teacher six times.
The youth, who cannot be named, claims he was sleepwalking at the time. On the latest day of his trial at
Exeter Crown Court, the defendant was asked about whether he knew the difference between fantasy and reality. He said he did.
Prosecutor Mr James Dawes KC asked: “How do you kill a zombie with a hammer?”
The defendant replied: “Hitting it on the head.”
The defendant, who was 16 at the time of the incident, denies attempting to murder his roommates, aged 15 and 16, at the school. It is not disputed that he caused the life-threatening injuries but the defence case is that he was “consumed in an episode of sleepwalking” at the time. It is claimed he was not conscious and awake when he hit them as they slept.
Cross-examined by Mr Dawes, he confirmed he kept weapons, including screwdrivers, a staple gun and sometimes hammers in a drawer in his room. He said he needed them for protection against zombies.
The defendant said he knew TV shows like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones were scripted fantasies. He said he was an atheist but it was “entirely plausible” for zombies to exist and said a fossil had been discovered carrying a suspect organism.
“Your claim to believe in the zombie apocalypse is a lie,” the prosecutor said.
“You can believe what you want,” said the defendant, “I believe what I believe.”
“You want to give a reason to the jury to hold the weapons,” suggested Mr Dawes.
“It’s true,” said the defendant. “The reason is for protection against the zombie apocalypse.” He said there were different ways of killing zombies but usually it involved “destroying their brains”.
Earlier, the jury was played part of a dance song called Light it Up, by Robin Hustin, which the defendant was listening to in the minutes leading up to the violence.
The jury was invited to look at some of the lyrics, which include: “I see danger in your eyes. They know we’ll burn down the night.”
The prosecutor asked: “Would you say that was an easy song to go to sleep to?”
“I listen to whatever song I listen to,” said the defendant. “I can sleep to whatever song I listen to.”
About half an hour before the hammer violence, the teenager confirmed he had been listening to a number of other Spotify tracks, including Katy Perry’s California Gurls and Adele’s Rolling in the Deep.
The defendant denies three charges of attempted murder against the two boys and housemaster Henry Roffe-Silvester.
The trial continues.