A teen followed a young mum as she walked with her five-year-old son before ferociously stabbing her. Hasan Arif, 19, who had been showing increasingly bizarre behaviour in the days leading up to the brutal attack, has since been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
In August 2020, as the then 24-year-old woman walked hand-in-hand with her little boy through Withington, she noticed Arif, then 17, walking behind her. Despite crossing the road and issuing a warning to him, he got closer and closer to her, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
Feeling his presence directly behind her, she turned and saw his ‘emotionless’ face, before he brandished a large knife and stabbed at her repeatedly. She fell backwards and kicked out at him, but he continued lashing out.
