The 11-year-old girl who was stabbed eight times in Leicester Square this week is an Australian national, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Tradeconfirmed late Wednesday night.
The girl was visiting London with her mother at the time of the attack. She was hospitalised and required plastic surgery for wounds to her face, shoulder, wrist and neck, a court was told on Tuesday.
A DFAT spokesperson said consular assistance was being provided to two Australians in London. No other details were provided.
Police were called to reports of the stabbing in the central London square just after 11.30am on Monday 12 August. Ioan Pintaru, 32, appeared at Westminster magistrates court on Tuesday 13 August, charged with attempted murder and possession of a bladed article in a public place, which the court heard was a steak knife.
The court heard Pintaru was a Romanian citizen of no fixed address. The charges were read to him via an interpreter during the 10-minute hearing.
David Burns, prosecuting, said a woman and her 11-year-old daughter were in Leicester Square as tourists when the defendant “approached the 11-year-old girl, placed her into a headlock … then stabbed her eight times to the body”.
He added: “She sustained wounds to the face, shoulder, wrist and neck area. Fortunately, members of the public intervened, which prevented any further injury to the child.”
He added that the defendant had been detained and searched and a knife had been found on his person.
The girl was taken to hospital where she remains and is undergoing treatment. “I understand that she required plastic surgery for the injuries she sustained,” Burns said.
Officers were called and “found the defendant being held by the members of the public”, the prosecutor added.
Pintaru was remanded in custody and will appear at the Old Bailey on 10 September.
A security guard who works at TWG Tea shop in Leicester Square and gave his name as Abdullah, 29, said had “jumped on” and taken a knife from the attacker.
The security guard, named Abdullah, told the ABC he was working inside the store where the girl was visiting and “heard a scream” about 11.30am.
“I started running towards the guy. I jumped on the guy and held his hand, which was carrying the knife,” Abdullah said.
“I tackled him down on the floor and then kicked the knife away from him. And there were a couple of guys who came for help and they grabbed him as well.”
Abdullah said that he held the man down for around four minutes, alongside other witnesses, until police arrived and arrested him.
“I’ve never seen anything like it before, it was horrible,” he said, but admitted he didn’t feel scared.
“I would say that I’m a brave person. We Pakistanis are brave by heart as. So I wasn’t scared.”
Abdullah received a round of applause and was recognised for his bravery at Pakistan’s London High Commission independence day celebrations on Wednesday.
The Commission wrote on Facebook that “special tribute was also paid to the Pakistani brave young man, Abdullah, who heroically tackled an attacker at Leicester Square in London and saved lives of a mother and a child from stabbing attack.”
Former UK Labour MP Khalid Mahmood was in attendance and also honoured Abdullah as “our hero” in a post to X.
– Additional reporting by Emily Wind
