More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
The son of a clergyman, acquitted of attempting to murder a stranger outside a Dartford Wetherspoon will remain in a secure hospital for the foreseeable future.
Joel Jueanville, 32, plunged a knife into Stephen Hooper, 59, four times while he was drinking at the Flying Boat Pub in Spital Street.
But a jury at Maidstone Crown Court found him not guilty on the grounds of insanity.
They had heard from a number of psychiatrists who agreed he had been suffering from schizophrenia and had been developing symptoms prior to the attack.
It was said he suffered from anxiety, depressive illness, obsessive compulsive disorder and body dysmorphia.
He was also said to have developed an irrational fear that people thought he was a paedophile and so began carrying a knife for protection.
Jueanville, of Frindsbury Road, Strood, told one consultant psychiatrist, Dr Tim Rogers, that he was having hallucinations about Voodooism and witchcraft, and heard voices telling him his life would be in danger if he did not stab his victim.
Dr Rogers told the jury Mr Jueanville believed 'in that moment' he was acting to save himself and therefore the defence of insanity applied as he did not know what he was doing was legally wrong.
"There is no alternative or rational motive for Mr Jueanville to assault the victim in quite the way he did," he explained.
At the sentencing hearing, the judge, both counsel, prosecutor Charles Evans and defence QC Oliver Saxby, and Mr Jueanville all appeared by video link at Maidstone Crown Court for the 15-minute hearing.
Judge Philip St John-Stevens then ruled that he be detained in a hospital under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act, together with a Section 41 order for the protection of the public.
His victim has since spoken out to say he cannot forgive his attacker.
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