Knife-carrying schizophrenic told Leeds police he was Jesus Christ after bizarre altercations

Saidou Jarra had been trying to enter bars around the Corn Exchange area of the city on September 9 last year and then turned aggressive to door staff when he was refused, Leeds Crown Court heard. He was sat on the steps of the Corn Exchange on Call Lane when police arrived after a member of the public tipped them off that he was carrying a blade.

They found a large kitchen knife wrapped in a plastic bag inside a rucksack he had with him when police arrested him at around 9.45pm. After telling them he was Jesus, he then told them: “I will do what I want, I’m a soldier and I have a right to carry a weapon.”

Prosecutor Jade Edwards said Jarra was bailed but 10 days later was arrested again after an altercation on Dewsbury Road in which he slammed a car door on a child who was trying to exit a parked vehicle as Jarra walked by. The child was struck in the head by the door, and a confrontation ensued between the boy’s stepfather and Jarra.

Then on October 2, he became involved in another bizarre incident in which he pushed a woman over in the female public toilet of Leeds Bus station on York Street at around 5.30am. He had told the woman and her daughter not to use the hand dryers and then turned aggressive when they told him to get out.

The court was was told that 43-year-old, formerly of Dewsbury Road, Leeds, and now of no fixed address, continues to deny being unwell, and claimed he was provoked on each occasion. However, he has been diagnosed as schizophrenic by two doctors, had been a patient at Newton Lodge psychiatric unit in Wakefield but then stopped taking is medication shortly after being released, resulting in the confrontations.

Psychiatrist Dr Eleanor Watson gave evidence in court and recommended he be detained. She said: “At times he is unwell and unable to rationalise other people’s behaviour with a propensity to view their actions as provocative.”

He claimed he had been attacked before by people with a knife and therefore now carries his own.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of assault, one of possessing a bladed article in public and two counts of failing to surrender to custody after being initially summoned to Leeds Magistrates’ Court to answer to the charges but never showed. He was previously jailed for 26 weeks in April 2020 for carrying a knife in public.

Judge Christopher Batty issued a hospital order with a Section 41 restriction, meaning Jarra can only be released once he is no longer deemed a threat to the public.

He told him: “I have to protect the public from serious harm. You have constantly sought to arm yourself with a knife. Your mental illness makes you unpredictable and carrying knives makes you potentially very dangerous. I’m of the view that a Section 41 is necessary in your case to protect the public. I urge you to continue taking your medication and get well soon.”