A mum who was stabbed multiple times by a stranger has described the "devastating" effect it has had on her, knowing her young son witnessed the horrific attack.
The woman, who was 24 at the time, was holding her son's hand through Withington, Greater Manchester, when she noticed her attacker behind her. Despite crossing the road and warning him to leave her alone, he continued to pursue her.
She turned and saw his "emotionless" face, before he stabbed at her repeatedly with a large knife as her five-year-old son watched on. She fell backwards and kicked out at him, but he continued the brutal assault.
Attacker Hasan Arif, 19, has since been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, after displaying increasingly strange behaviour in the days leading up to the attack.
The woman told Manchester Evening News she felt guilt over what happened. The victim, who has not been identified, said: “Since the incident I have felt so much guilt in relation to my son. My son was with me at the time.
"The thought my five-year-old child saw this is devastating. I was stuck in hospital not able to get the attacker’s face out of my mind.
“I felt, and still do feel, unbelievable guilt all the time, our whole world changed. My son has never spent a single day away from me since the incident, and this had a massive impact on me, and I feel like I let my son down.”
The woman said that since the attack, she has had to move house and quit her job as a carer. She continued: “Every time I step outside I get heart palpitations, begin to sweat and struggle to breathe and I try to hide from my son. If I was in the same situation again with somebody behind me, I stop and let them pass. I am unable to sleep and I wake up seeing the emotionless face of the attacker.
“I have felt shame and blame myself and wonder whether I caused something. I regret going out. Why me? Why attack me? What have I done? At the time I really thought he was going to kill me, and I thought my son was going to witness my murder.
Minshull Street Crown Court heard Arif's behaviour at the time of the attack was erratic and growing increasingly more bizarre. He was pacing around the house, drinking a gallon of milk so that he could get ‘stronger’ and was becoming extremely paranoid.
He was also excessively using his phone, to the point his family took it from him. Despite all this, he wasn’t acting violently, prosecutor Sara Haque told Minshull Street Crown Court.
The day before the attack, though, his mum had messaged her other son about Arif’s behaviour. He responded by attempting to grab the phone from her.
On August 29 2020, at around 8.45am he left the house wearing dark trousers, a red coat and white t-shirt, carrying a rucksack that he was ‘obsessed’ with. It usually only contained some cash and his bus pass but on this day, it held something far more sinister.
At 1.20pm that afternoon, the woman was walking in the direction of Princess Road. Her five-year-old boy was next to her, holding her hand, when she felt an unusual presence behind her.
Initially not thinking anything of it, she carried on walking. After crossing the road in an attempt to avoid him, she had no choice but to turn and face him.
Before she could react he struck, repeatedly stabbing at her with the knife in the chest and stomach area. She fell to the floor but managed to kick out in desperation. She was left with six wounds to her leg.
During the attack, a passerby was walking down the road when he heard the woman screaming. Following the sound, he saw a little boy, then saw the woman on the ground with a male punching her.
She was kicking out at him ‘like a maniac’. The man shouted: “get the f*** away” at which point Arif released the knife and left. His face ‘did not change’.
After the attack Arif arrived home at around 2pm, immediately running upstairs to have a shower. The following day his brother saw a witness appeal and identified his brother as the attacker from CCTV, taking him to a local police station.
Arif’s lawyer, Waheed Baber: “It has been incredibly brave of the victim to attend court and read the reality of victims of knife crime. The difficulty with this case is that he was suffering from a mental illness and was greatly unwell at the time.”
Arif, formerly of Stanthorne Avenue, but now at Edenfield Hospital, was sentenced to a hospital order alongside a restriction order. He was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenia following the attack.
Judge Tina Landale said: “She was a complete stranger to you. She was walking in broad daylight with her young son when you began to follow her.
“You pulled a large knife you brought with you out of your rucksack and used it to commit a ferocious attack on her.
“You stabbed her repeatedly aiming for the chest and stomach, and even when she fell to the ground and courageously kicked out in desperation to protect herself, fearing she would lose her life, you continued stabbing her. She showed tremendous courage.”
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