Teenager Charles Mann Cut Off Own Penis And Stabbed Mother 11 Times While High On Meow Meow

Teenager High On Meow Meow Cut Off Own Penis And Stabbed Mother 11 Times

A naked teenager stabbed his mother 11 times and reportedly cut off his own penis during a binge on the drug meow meow.

Charles Mann shouted: “This is the prophecy. I love you but this is a prophecy,” as he attacked his mother Emma whilst in the grip of a drug-fuelled psychosis.

Miss Mann mouthed the words "I love you" to her son as he entered the dock at Hove Crown Court on Monday.

Charles Mann had a history of drug abuse but had never suffered a violent or psychotic episode before the incident, a court heard

The 21-year-old, who was 19 at the time of the attack on December 29 2013, had a history of drug abuse but had never suffered a violent or psychotic episode after taking them, the court heard.

The incident occurred in the kitchen of their home in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, after bingeing on mephedrone, known as meow meow, cannabis and alcohol.

Prosecutor Amy Packham said Mrs Mann had made a 999 call from the bathroom of their home at 6.20am on December 29, telling the operator: "My son's just attacked me and stabbed me and he's going mental downstairs with the knives."

She said the incident had taken place in the kitchen but she had managed to get away, locking herself in the bathroom.

Miss Packham explained that Mrs Mann had no idea why her son had attacked her but that he had had problems in the past and had been drinking and taking drugs.

Mrs Mann described some of her wounds to the operator and said she was finding it difficult to breathe, the prosecutor said.

Officers arrived at the scene and found the property in darkness, the court heard.

When they entered, the defendant, who was naked, approached them covered in blood and started to try and climb out of a broken window, the hearing was told.

Miss Packham said: "The defendant said: 'I have stabbed her multiple times, I have killed her. I have stabbed my mum and I need to be punished for what I have done.'

"He said he had taken meow meow, loads of lines of it, and a lot of alcohol.

"He appeared manic and deranged at the time."

The prosecutor said Mann told officers: "I am a paedophile, I do not want to live. Take me to the light, I can see the vampires."

She continued: "He was not reacting to pain and was described as manic and deranged."

Mrs Mann had suffered injuries to her back, head, neck and arms and was taken to hospital where she required surgery for multiple punctures to one of her lungs and internal bleeding, the court heard.

Following the attack she remained in the high dependency unit at the hospital for 14 days, Miss Packham said.

She told officers she had been woken by her son "trashing" his bedroom and that when she had checked on him, he followed her to the kitchen where he attacked her, the court was told.

Miss Packham said a friend who had spent the evening taking drugs with Mann said the defendant had left his home at 5am that day and had seemed fine.

Mann also required hospital treatment for serious injuries and spent much of his time in hospital sedated before being transferred to a psychiatric unit, and eventually to Lewes Prison, the court heard. The Western Daily Press writes that medics were able to reattach Mann's severed penis.

He pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm at a previous court hearing on January 19 this year.

David Etherington QC, representing Mann, said the defendant had become involved in taking drugs after completing his GCSEs and had spent time in The Priory trying to overcome his problem but had relapsed.

He told the court: "His parents even sent him to work on a kibbutz in Israel but the problems would come when he came home and fell in with the same crowd."

He told the court Mann had had hallucinations on occasions after taking drugs but "had never had a reaction which caused him to be violent to another human being, particularly his mother who he loves very much and who he never had any conscious desire to hurt".

Mr Etherington said Mann had relied on evidence of the attack because he had "virtually no coherent memory of what happened".

He continued: "Looking back, in a mind that was very troubled at the time, he can only really rationalise it as being a suicide attempt by him in the grip of a delusion in which his mother somehow got involved."

The court heard that although Mann had been "extremely mentally unwell at the time of the offence due to a drug induced psychosis" he had now recovered but remained "fragile and vulnerable".

Judge David Rennie jailed Mann for 16 months and told him that as he had already served seven months on remand, he could expect to be released on licence on or around April 7.

He told the defendant that on his release he would be helped and monitored by Mappa (multi-agency public protection arrangements) who would arrange accommodation and a support structure for him.

He said Mann's case was "wholly exceptional" and that the opinion on both sides was that he would have been "legally insane at the time you nearly ended your mother's life by stabbing her".

He said: "You will now be able to understand that if you had been convicted of the original charge of attempted murder or intent to cause grievous bodily harm for the knife attack, you would have been sent to prison for very many years."

He said Mann's behaviour had been "wholly out of character" and caused by a "drug-induced psychosis".

Judge Rennie said Mann's mother had shown an "extraordinary degree of loving, understanding and compassion".

He added: "Many parents would find forgiving an act such as this almost impossible.

"If there is one lesson to be learned from this tragedy, it is that young people who take drugs or mix drugs of this sort could suffer a psychotic episode or an episode worse than your own."

After Mann left the dock, the judge told Mrs Mann: "You have conducted yourself with enormous dignity. It cannot have been at all easy."

Mrs Mann declined to comment as she left the court.

Detective Sergeant Dave Springett said: "Charlie suffered a brief psychotic episode on December 29, during which time he stabbed his mother and severely hurt himself, causing himself life-changing injuries.

"This has been a very difficult time for Charlie and the Mann family who we hope can now begin to rebuild their lives."

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