'Dangerous' drug dealer convicted of stabbing police officer
A drug dealer has been found guilty of stabbing a policeman in an attack that left officer with a collapsed lung.
Michael Enzanga was likened to a “caged animal fighting for his life” as he repeatedly knifed Hampshire Police Constable Russell Turner, 56, on February 21 at Stamshaw Park in Portsmouth.
PC Turner and his colleague, PC Claire Parry, had been looking into reports of drug dealing in the area.
Both officers were in plain-clothes at the time of the incident.
On Thursday, a jury at Portsmouth Crown Court found Enzanga, of Tottenham, north London, guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and possession of a knife.
Enzanga faced four charges of possessing crack cocaine and diamorphine, with intent to supply the class A drugs on February 20 and 21.
He also received a charge of possessing criminal property, namely a stash of money, to all of which he denied.
Judge Roger Hetherington told Enzanga that a pre-sentence report was required and that it would “consider how dangerous you are”.
Enzanga is remanded in custody until his sentencing on October 4.
The court previously heard that PCs Turner and Parry had approached Enzanga, then aged 19, near an adventure playground in the city.
Pc Turner had his warrant card out and identified his colleague and himself as police officers when Enzanga tried to run away and a struggle broke out.
His female colleague said Enzanga seemed to do a punching action “several times” and that “from what I could see of Russ he was stabbed at least twice”.
In a taped interview played to the jury, PC Turner said the thuds to his body seemed like “what I imagine someone like Mike Tyson banging and hitting me hard in the back”.
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He said saw a black-handled knife with a sharp silver blade, that was between 5in to 6in long.
Enzanga, who was homeless and sleeping in the park at the time of the incident, had claimed he was running away from a pair of attackers on February 21, when he “ended up getting chased by the police”.
A carrier bag containing 60 wraps of crack cocaine or heroin was left at the fight scene, before police later recovered a silver kitchen knife.
Enzanga was also found to be in possession of nearly £1,000, which he previously said came from monthly benefits and borrowing cash from friends.
Following the stabbing, Enzanga fled in the direction of a nearby block of flats but was seen by members of the public and spotted on CCTV carrying a knife before apprehended and tasered by officers.
He was spotted climbing garden walls to escape.
