A suspect detained after four people were seriously injured in a machete rampage is still in hospital months after the incident.
Residents in the Arkles Lane area of Anfield were left reeling after a man wielding a large machete like weapon wandered through the streets attacking people seemingly at random, at around 5.30pm on Thursday, August 11.
Three men, aged 20, 40 and 48 were wounded alongside a 62-year-old woman, who was attacked inside a house on Ince Avenue and suffered lacerations to her face, neck, body and arms.
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The attacker was also seen swinging the machete at an eight-year-old boy, although the blade only nicked the child's head as he ducked at the last moment.
Carl Baines, assistant manager of the famous Arkles Pub on the corner of Anfield Road and Arkles Lane, Anfield, was collecting glasses when he saw a heavy-set man try and attack the child, who he then pulled to safety.
Witnesses told the ECHO that the machete was swung with such force it "would have killed him" had the blow connected.
The suspect was arrested in Stanley Park on suspicion of attempted murder, but was then detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act. Witness said he lived in the local area and a neighbour described him as a "big conspiracy theorist" and a "very quiet man" who kept to himself.
Today Merseyside Police have confirmed no criminal charges have been brought in the case and that the suspect remains in hospital.
At the time of the incident, the young boy's mum told the ECHO she was cooking meatball pasta for her son and his brothers and sisters when she heard a knock on the door, at around 5.30pm.
She said: "I opened the door and a few people from the pub was there, saying a man has just swung a machete at the baby. I could not believe it, I was like 'a machete? He's eight years old'.
"He was just sobbing, sobbing and he looked grey. He's very active, he's always out on his bike with his mates but now he doesn't want to go out no more. He would not sleep last night, he was just saying 'Is the man in jail now mum?'. He hasn't left my side."
The mum said she has since viewed CCTV footage of the incident, which showed her son hopping off his bike as the man swung the blade. Fortunately, Mr Baines saw the incident and pulled the boy into the building before locking the doors.
She said: "He had been in the chippy for a drink and he was just coming home from playing with his friend. He was riding his bike and the man said 'do you want to get machetied?"
"He's swung the machete and he ducked, he's got a little cut on the back of his head. Carl from the pub grabbed him and pulled him inside and locked the doors."
Mr Baines and another man then ran down Arkles Lane after the man, screaming warnings to anyone close by. However, one victim was wearing headphones and could not hear their shouts.
Mr Baines said: "There was a poor lad at the bus stop. The lad had his earphones in and he couldn't hear me and this other fella trying to shout him. So he's just took three or four swings at him and caught him all on his arm.
"I'm still screaming, trying to run in front of him and warn people. I saw a lad on a bike, so I told him to fly down and tell everyone to close their shops and their doors and that. And that's when he's turned onto Ince Avenue and done that to [the woman]."
Carl said the man entered the woman's house for less than a minute and then "booted her out the door". He said: "She had cuts, she had bad cuts on her arms and that. I took my work shirt off and wrapped it around her arms to stop the bleeding. She had three or four big cuts on her arms and one on her head I think."
Merseyside Police confirmed said the force received its first call at 5.30pm from a member of the public, which reported a man with a machete walking along Priory Road and Utting Avenue shouting at people. A man is understood to have been attacked at a bus-stop on Utting Avenue.
The final victim, the 62-year-old woman, was seen emerging "in a pool of blood" after the man entered her house. She was helped by members of the public before being rushed to hospital.
A blood-stained machete with the message "make love not war" scrawled onto it was found abandoned in Stanley Park.
Anyone with information is asked to DM @MerPolCC or @CrimestoppersUK on 0800 555 111 quoting reference 22000587067.
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