Schizophrenic killer ‘smoked skunk since the age of 13’

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Paranoid schizophrenic Chien Nguyen, then 18, walked up to Tung Minh Le, who was with friends after visiting the West End's Thai Square nightclub, and then "unprovoked, unpredicted and inexplicably" drew a knife and made a punch-like blow to Le's chest.

Le, who was born in Hong Kong to Vietnamese parents, died six days later in hospital. He was the sixth teenager to die on the capital's streets last year.

Nguyen, also born in Hong Kong to Vietnamese parents, smoked skunk cannabis since the age of 13, triggering psychotic behaviour.
He went to ground after the attack, sleeping rough before handing himself into police.

When he surrendered to police he told detectives he had just wanted to hurt and scare Le but added: "When it got to the point, it just happened and I could not control myself."

When officers searched his Hackney home, they found a meat cleaver, a kitchen knife, a claw hammer and two air pistols stashed in his bedroom.

At the Old Bailey Nguyen, now 19, denied murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.