Nigerian Student Who Stabbed Australian Policeman Admits Being Traumatized By Incident

A Nigerian Student in Sydney, Martins Noel Keyen, who stabbed a policeman on his way back to the country in August last year, has admitted that he was still traumatized by the crime.

Keyen, 25 is a Masters degree student at Macquarie University, Marsfield in Sydney’s north-west.

According to foreign reports, Keyen stabbed the police officer, Constable Flynn, who asked him to move to the side of road, as he was dragging his suitcase into oncoming traffic.

He said he suffered a mental health episode during the incident, linking the stabbing to it.

He was said to have stabbed one of the officers in the shoulder while officers tried to pull out the weapon from him.

Keyen was said to have asked the policeman “coming at me” before lashing out with the weapon.

He has pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting an officer on duty and one charge of having a knife in a public place. 

The student was said to have refused to get off the road and instead, struck Flynn in the chest.

As a result, another officer,  Constable Rankin (first name withheld), then tackled him, before they noticed he was carrying a 20-centimetre long knife.

He was repeatedly told to drop the knife but began walking towards Constable Flynn waving the weapon around.

The student was then tasered three times and arrested by a third officer as Constable Rankin discovered deep cuts to his shoulder.

Both Keyen and the injured officer were taken to hospital for treatment.

During a police interrogation in September, Keyen noted that he didn’t remember holding the knife due to a “mental health episode which has been escalating for a number of weeks.”

He also brought in a letter of apology asking police to forgive him. 

“I’m not in the business of making excuses for my actions but I want to tell you one simple thing. I am terribly sorry,” he wrote.

“It is truly not a reflection of my thought process towards you or people like you,’ the letter continued. 

“I’ve been watching the news lately and I notice people in your line of duty progressively keep getting exposed to danger.”

Keyen’s lawyer, while appearing at the Downing Centre District Court on Monday, said he “carries trauma” from the incident and does not intend to “portray himself as the victim.”

Two medical reports, according to his lawyer, indicated there was a link between his bipolar disorder and the offences.

The crown prosecutor said Keyen had posed a serious risk to officers and was not immature but a “well travelled” man.

Keyen’s support person, Megan Guenther, who he now lives with said he was facing jail if she didn’t take him in.

Guenther had not met him before the incident but said he was ‘bewildered’ while visiting him in hospital.

“I felt he was a young man away from home and anyone he knew… it all affected him a lot,” she told the court, The Daily Telegraph reported. 

“I thought this is the opportunity for us to help somebody. It was either us or jail.”

She also said Keyen has become part of the family and helps out with chores around the house.

“I wouldn’t have him in my house if I thought he was a danger,” Guenther said.

On July 24, he will appear in court again for sentencing.

He has since been taken in by support person, Guenther, who said he has found a place in her family