Babah Sesay, 31, of Rodney Estate, pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including wounding with intent and actual bodily harm, at Croydon Crown Court on Thursday (March 20).
At around 10.15am on January 23, Sesay burst into the Sainsbury’s and Argos distribution centre where he used to work and attacked a handful of former colleagues as they tried to stop him.
Five men were taken to hospital – one in his 50s, two in their 30s and two in their 20s – with injuries that were non-life-threatening or life-changing.
Joseph Denton, 29, claimed he fought off the attacker with a fire extinguisher.Joseph Denton, 29, was injured fighting off a knife attacker near Marlowe Way in Croydon, south London (Sam Hall / PA)
Speaking at the scene, he told reporters: “I was there for an audit and the company basically started shouting and saying: ‘He’s back.’”
Mr Denton, who had a bandage around his little finger, added: “He didn’t say a word. He was trying to kill me and I’d never seen him before in my life.
“I tried to lock the door, but where I couldn’t I had to just confront him and fight him basically.
“I got him on the floor and decided to hit him with a fire extinguisher, which sort of calmed everything down.
“And then people rushed in because he was on the floor at that point, and then we all just carried on attacking him until he left.
“I didn’t really have a choice to be honest. There’s one door he was coming through. So, there’s nowhere to go anyway, so I had to confront him.
“He had his thing just stabbing at me like a serial killer.”
Mr Denton, who is from Rayleigh, Essex, said the knife was “the size of my face”, adding he thought it was a “Rambo knife about eight inches, with all jagged edges”.
Sesay fled but was arrested an hour later at a nearby restaurant. He was taken to hospital with minor injuries following his arrest, before being transferred to custody.
He was later charged with five counts of wounding with intent, two counts of aggravated burglary, one count of actual bodily harm, one count of assault by beating and one count of possession of an offensive weapon.
Detective Superintendent Dan Rutland, who leads policing in south London, said: “The swift actions of our officers helped to ensure no one was seriously hurt in this incident.
“I hope this, and the judicial result, brings closure and comfort to those involved and highlights to the community that we will not tolerate violence in any form.”
Sesay will be sentenced at Croydon Crown Court on Thursday, June 5.
