Neighbours of the boy killed in the Hainault sword attack have told how they tried to warn him but he could not hear them because he was wearing headphones.
Daniel Anjorin, 14, was fatally stabbed in the attack on Wednesday as he made his way to school, which also left four others injured.
His next-door neighbour, Aiste Dabasinskaite, said: “We were shouting and waving towards Daniel as he came out. He had his headphones in so he wouldn’t hear us. It just happened right before our eyes, it was horrible.”
Marcus Aurelio Arduini Monzo appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday after being charged with the murder of Daniel.
The dual Spanish-Brazilian national, of Newham, is accused of crashing a van into a fence in Laing Close just before 7am on Tuesday and then attacking two members of the public with a sword.
It is alleged he then killed Daniel before seriously injuring two police officers as they tried to stop him, one of whom nearly lost her hand.
Speaking to the PA news agency, Ms Dabasinskaite extended her condolences to the family.
“It’s horrible isn’t it, poor boy, I feel really bad for his family,” she said.
“As my next door neighbour we used to say hello and wave at each other in the mornings when he left for school.”
On the outpouring of support from the local community, she said: “It’s lovely, it’s really nice, we’ve had people coming from all over, coming and putting flowers down.
“They’re really supportive, we’ve got a great community here, we never expected something like this to happen.”
Daniel's school, Bancroft's in Woodford Green, paid tribute to him as a "true scholar" who had a "positive nature and gentle character".
In a statement, it said: "Losing such a young pupil is something we will always struggle to come to terms with."
More than £25,000 has been raised for the grief-stricken family of the schoolboy after the tragedy.
Kwasi Asare, a friend of Daniel’s brother, who established the online fundraiser, said: “Daniel Anjorin was a very loved boy in the local community who was always full of happiness and joy and very much loved by everybody he came across.”
