The suspect in the stabbing of an 11-year-old girl in Leicester Square, a busy area of central London, on Monday has been charged with attempted murder and appeared in court on Tuesday, accused of stabbing the victim “eight times”.
Ioan Pintaru, a 32-year-old Romanian national of no fixed address in the UK, appeared in a brief hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court after the attack on the young tourist who was visiting the British capital with her mother.
According to prosecutor David Burns, the man “approached the little girl, grabbed her by the neck and stabbed her eight times all over her body,” causing injuries to her face, shoulders, wrists and throat.
He also said that a man came to defend the child at the time of the incident, and that the suspect was held on the ground when the police arrived.
Ioan Pintaru was remanded in custody following the hearing and will appear in court in the UK on 10 September.
Two weeks after the knife murder of three girls in Southport (north-west) which sparked anti-migrant and Islamophobic riots, police were called shortly after 11:30 a.m. (10:30 GMT) on Monday about an attack in this area frequented by many tourists.
The police said they were not considering the terrorist lead and added that the suspect and the victim did not appear to know each other.
Seriously injured, the little girl was still hospitalized on Tuesday and will have to undergo cosmetic surgery, the prosecutor added. Her life is not in danger.
Her 34-year-old mother was initially reported to have been injured, but it was actually the child’s blood.
Police praised the courage of local business workers in the area who intervened to protect the child and subdue the attacker.
Abdullah, a security guard, said he intervened after “hearing a scream” and seeing a man attacking the boy: “I jumped on him, grabbed his hand that wasn’t holding the knife and threw him to the ground,” he told the PA news agency.
The United Kingdom, where the carrying of firearms is strictly restricted, is experiencing a resurgence of knife violence (attacks on people, burglaries, etc.), which often involves young people.