A Hersden father was shot by police in a ‘stand-off’ after he took his teenage daughter hostage, a court has heard.

Marc Traylor, who had been diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, was hit three times as he began stabbing his victim repeatedly.

Today, his attempted murder trial began at Canterbury Crown Court with the 42-year-old watching the hearing from a room in a psychiatric hospital in Hastings.

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Marc Traylor has pleaded not guilty to the charge via a video link where one of his lawyers and court staff are in attendance.

Prosecutor Simon Taylor told the jury: “The essence of the case is that whilst suffering an episode relating to his diagnosis as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, the defendant took his daughter, Kitanna hostage in the family home.”

He said “such was the severity” of the situation armed police officers were called which led to a an hour-long “stand off” in a hallway inside the house in The Avenue.

Mr Taylor said it came to an end when despite attempts by family members to calm him down, Traylor began stabbing Kitanna, now 18, repeatedly.

VIDEO: Police at the scene at the time of the incident.

He added: “In order to save the life of the child, one of the armed officers discharged his firearm three times.

“This was an action which was successful to the extent that the defendant was no longer able to continue stabbing his daughter..however, Traylor did sustain very serious injuries himself.

“These injuries will have a lifelong impact upon the defendant, “ he added.

Father-of-three Traylor has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, but will not attend the hearing in person.

The jury heard that Traylor had been “known” to the Mental Health services since 2012 when he began experiencing various forms of paranoid delusions, and had been detained under the Mental Health Act.

In June 2013 he was discharged after agreeing to taking regular injections to control his illness.

But the prosecutor said that Traylor’s wife Nicole spoke to her husband a week before the incident when he is alleged to have admitted he had stopped taking the medicine.

“It seems this decision by him was crucial to the events which happened on February 8 2015.

During the evening Kitanna gave him a hug and she described he hugged her tightly and dug his nails into her slightly which she thought was strange.”

He was then seen by another of his daughters, Rhea, now 21, with his hand behind his back, which concerned her and she went into the kitchen to check the cutlery.

“She noticed immediately that two knives were missing. Kitanna had gone to bed and was asleep when her bedroom light was turned on.

“She saw Traylor standing by the door with a knife in each hand and she began screaming and fell off her bed, “ the prosecutor added.

He told the jury how Traylor was “talking but not making any sense” before trying to push furniture in front of the bedroom door.

Traylor then told his daughter he loved her “but wanted to end it” and barricaded the two inside the room as police were called.

As armed officers arrived Traylor told his father, Peter Traylor, who had arrived: “They’re onto us” and “I’m protecting Kitanna.”

As Traylor lurched towards his father a police officer discharged a taser, which “unfortunately” hit Peter and not Marc, the prosecutor said.

He told the jury that Traylor then began stabbing Kitanna as another officer fired his gun – hitting Traylor in the abdomen and twice in the face.

Mr Taylor said: “The Crown’s case is clear...no sane individual would stab someone that many times, with that ferocity unless they intended to kill them.”

The police firearms expert, known as Officer L, is expected to tell the jury how as he entered the room Traylor was repeatedly stabbing Kitanna, who was screaming.

In his statement, the officer added: “Traylor looked at me as I entered and I could see determination and anger in his face.

“I realised Kitanna’s life was in imminent danger. I drew my Glock pistol, aimed it at the centre of Traylor and I fired one round at the chest area with the intention of stopping the attack.

“I realised he was still stabbing Kitanna and that my shot had not had any effect in neutralising the threat.

“I decided to shoot again...I aimed at Traylor’s head and took a second shot. I saw the entry wound around the jaw area. This had no effect and Traylor continued to stab Kitanna.

“I decided to take a third shot and aimed at his head again. I saw this enter the face around the right cheek area and Traylor stopped stabbing Kitanna and went limp.

“I would say that between each shot I took, there was a two or three second assessment of the threat.

“I grabbed Kitanna and passed her back to the officers behind me to Officers R and H. Officer. Officer G had moved in and handcuffed Traylor. I secured his legs with my fast wrap.

“Officer G said: “I think he’s stabbed himself”.

“I said: ‘No. I’ve shot him three times’, “ he added.

The jury were sworn in last night after being shown a photograph of a police officer, who will be giving evidence during case, which is expected to last a week, and asked if they knew him.

He is one of four tactical firearms officers who were involved in the incident at Traylor’s home in The Avenue in February 2015.

Prosecutor Simon Taylor explained the officers will only be known by a letter of the alphabet and only one of them will give evidence from the witness box.

Judge Heather Norton told the jury: “This case of attempted murder concerns a tragic incident in which this defendant stabbed his daughter on a number of occasions. The fact that he did that is not in dispute.”

She said the jury will have to decide is what was Traylor’s mental state at the time of the incident and whether or not he is not guilty because of insanity.”

The case continues.