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A live-in housekeeper in Chelsea who was “viciously and brutally” stabbed and then strangled by the son of a wealthy art collector has revealed how she felt sure she would die following the attack.
Maximillian Bourne, 26, attacked Joselia Pereira Do Nascimento at his family’s multimillion-pound home in Justice Walk on February 25 last year, before calling 999 and telling the operator he had stabbed a “demon woman” and was a “nice boy from Chelsea”.
Ms Nascimento was left permanently scarred and said she received no help or support from the “extremely wealthy family” following the incident.
“I felt sure I would die there in that basement room,” the housekeeper told the MailOnline. “Even now I can remember the sound of his breathing, and the look on his face, like he was possessed.”
Recalling the moment she opened her bedroom door to find Bourne holding a blade, she added: “My brain didn’t have a chance to take in what was happening. Before I could register what was happening, he started stabbing me.”
Ms Nascimento recalled how she found herself pressed against a wall with Bourne’s hands around her neck.
“There was so much blood that I started to slip down the wall,” she said through tears. “I thought, 'I am dead’… Because no one knew I was there. But then I thought about my daughter. I am only alive today because of my daughter.
“Thoughts of her gave me the courage to fight for my life.”
Ms Nascimento managed to break free and barricade herself in the en suite bathroom. She shouted “why are you doing this?” at her attacker who told her that she was “from evil”.
After a period of being trapped in the bathroom, she managed to retrieve her phone to call for help, telling one of her friends that she was dying.
Earlier this year, Bourne was charged with attempted murder but was deemed unfit to stand trial because of his mental health, and a jury decided that he committed the act charged against him after minutes of deliberation following a one-day trial.
Judge Gregory Perrins described how Ms Nascimento had been watching television in her room on the evening of the attack when Bourne knocked on her door and asked her to come outside.
“He then viciously and brutally attacked her, stabbing her repeatedly with a kitchen knife to her head and her body,” the judge said.
“This was without question an utterly terrifying incident for Ms Nascimento.
“She was attacked without warning and without provocation in the home in which she lived and worked. It is only through sheer good fortune that she survived the attack.”
The judge told the court Ms Nascimento has permanent scars which cause her “intense” pain and suffers with mental health issues including post-traumatic stress disorder and panic attacks.
“Although Ms Nascimento worked for an extremely wealthy family they have offered her no help, no support and nothing but a single text message while she was in hospital,” he added.
The judge said she left her place of work, where she also lived, and has had to rely on charity and the help of others to get by.
“This must feel cold, unfeeling and unfair at a very difficult time in her life,” he added.
He imposed a hospital order with restrictions, explaining Bourne will remain in a secure hospital “indefinitely”.
“He will not be released unless a specialist tribunal considers it appropriate,” the judge continued. “Were he ever to be released it would be under strict conditions and a high degree of oversight.”
Judge Perrins thanked Ms Nascimento, who was seated in the public gallery, for her courage in attending proceedings, telling her: “I sincerely hope that your physical and mental scars heal and with time you’ll be able to move on from this truly awful incident.”
Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Michael Alcock told the court Bourne, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, has not responded to treatment so far and that there was “no guarantee” he would ever make a full recovery.
