The boss of a Leeds gym where staff rushed to help a man who had been stabbed in the face has called for more police patrols.
On Tuesday (February 21), West Yorkshire Police were called to the scene in Holbeck where a 19-year-old man was found with serious injuries after the stabbing. A cordon was put in place near Holbeck Park at the underpass and the entrance to 360 Fit Performance Centre.
The boss of 360 Fit has since spoken to LeedsLive about the violent attack and the bloody aftermath, and has called for better protections in the local community.
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Divesh Patel, 29, said he and his staff at the gym rushed to help the injured man when he ran towards the venue for help. Staff at the gym applied pressure to his face and called an ambulance.
Mr Patel said: "He came to our gym to ask for help, they had to cordon off the area as well, that was as far as our involvement went. Our staff called the ambulance and applied pressure as he had quite a bad cut to his face.
“We helped the guy and our members helped him - nothing actually happened at the gym. We had to close the gym for the day.
“Our staff saw a lot of blood so they took him to the corner, the staff are first aid qualified and one of my staff started applying pressure to his face with his vest."
Mr Patel went on to talk about the area having a high rate of crime. He said that though this is a tragic incident, police will do more to protect the community in Holbeck.
He added: "We had to pay out of our pocket to get forensic cleaners over to clean the blood, our reputation has been affected. Things seem to be getting worse and worse, always things seem to happen under that underpass.
“It’s such a high traffic area for crime, I don’t understand why police won’t put cameras up in the area, how many people will be robbed or assaulted before they do something?
“I live in Stockport in Manchester but I run the business, and there are two schools there, people say they don’t understand why no one has done anything."
360 Fit Performance Centre is now re-open as usual. A number of clients cancelled due to the attack, which Mr Patel says has affected the business's reputation.
“How many things have to happen before they put cameras up and light up the area, how many incidents need to occur?" he asked.
“If anything good can come from this, it’s to highlight it and hope that some changes are made. It needs to be lit better and there needs to be cameras there, they are doing so much work above the bridge, but we need safety for the people living in the area.
“We want more policing on the streets and in this area. It’s not the first incident that happened and it probably won’t be the last.
“I just want to share that, police clearly know there is an issue and nothing is being done about it. If we can petition to get more help in the area, that would be a good way to raise awareness."
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