Man in custody after Stabbing Girl,11 and Mum 34 left Injured in London’s Leicester Square
London, August 12, 2024 — In a shocking incident today, an 11-year-old girl and a 34-year-old woman were stabbed in Leicester Square, one of London’s bustling entertainment hubs.
UPDATE: Detectives investigating the stabbing have charged 32-year-old Ioan Pintaru with attempted murder. He will appear in court in the morning 13th August.
It was also believed that the girl’s mother, a 34-year-old woman, was also injured however it has been confirmed that her daughter’s blood had been mistaken for injuries of her own.
Emergency services responded swiftly to the scene, where a girl sustained serious iinjuries at 11:30am.
A mother and her 11-old daughter, whose identity remains undisclosed, was rushed to St. Thomas’ Hospital with multiple stab wounds. Medical staff are working tirelessly to stabilize her condition. The 34-year-old woman, identified as Sarah Mitchell. Her injuries are reported to be serious but not life-threatening.
Abdullah, who has worked at the TWG Tea shop, helped stop the stabbing and told the BBC he had heard “a scream”, and saw there was a person “stabbing a kid”, so he “jumped on the attacker… and kicked the knife away from him”.
Detective Chief Superintendent Christina Jessah, in charge of policing for Westminster, said: “This is a horrific incident and our thoughts are with the victims and their family. We will continue to provide support to them over the coming days and weeks.
“I would like to pay tribute to the members of the public, including staff from local businesses, who bravely intervened in this incident. They put themselves at risk and showed the best of London in doing so. I must also recognise the efforts of our officers who quickly arrived on scene and provided first aid to the victims until colleagues from LAS arrived.
“An urgent investigation is now ongoing and detectives are working to establish the details around exactly what happened.
“At this stage we don’t believe the suspect and the victims were known to each other.
“While we continue to work to establish the suspect’s motive, at this stage there is nothing to indicate the attack was terror-related.
“Detectives will be keen to speak to anyone who was in the area and may have information that can assist with their enquiries. I would urge anyone who can help to get in touch.”
Witnesses, or anyone with footage or photos of the incident, are asked to call 101 or to contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111, giving the reference 2745/12AUG.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said paramedics were called at 11:36 BST to reports of a stabbing. “We treated a child and an adult at the scene and took them to a major trauma centre.”
