Australian girl, 11, stabbed eight times in ‘random attack’ in Leicester Square discharged from hospital
15 August 2024, 09:19
Police at the scene in Leicester Square after the stabbing. Picture: Alamy[1]
An Australian tourist who was stabbed in a random attack while visiting Leicester Square with her mother has been discharged from hospital.
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The girl, 11, was left with injuries to the face, shoulder, wrist and neck after being attacked on Monday morning while out shopping.
She was rushed to hospital in a serious condition and underwent plastic surgery, but has since been released.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has said the girl’s family is receiving consular assistance.
Ioan Pintaru, 32 appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court yesterday charged with attempted murder and possession of a bladed article.
He wore a grey prison-issue sweatshirt and the court heard he is a Romanian citizen.
After his court appearance, Pintaru’s mother spoke out to say she shares the pain of the victim’s family.
The girl, who was put in a headlock and stabbed eight times with a steak knife, required plastic surgery for her wounds.
Reached in Pintaru’s home town of Pucioasa, around 65 miles away from the capital, Bucharest, his mother Magda Girla, said: “I suffer together with her mother and I can’t describe the pain I’m in.
“I’m also a mother and I understand what she must be going through.”
Court artist drawing by Elizabeth Cook of Ioan Pintaru appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. Picture: Alamy[4]
She revealed more details of her son’s life, telling the Mail that Pintaru had been a long-distance lorry driver for ten years, and “had no social life”.
Pintaru moved to the UK about six years ago and has a four-year-old daughter, with whose mother he was in a long-term relationship.
He went back to Romania in 2022, she said, but soon returned to the UK for work, and suffered a car accident a few weeks later, which meant he had to look for a new job.
Ms Girla said she had only heard from her son occasionally while he was away.
The stabbing took place at the TWG tea shop in the heart of the tourist hotspot, in what police believe was not a terror-related attack.
As well as attempted murder, Pintaru has also been charged with possession of a bladed article.
Appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday morning, the suspect wore a grey prison-issue sweatshirt as he appeared in the dock.
Prosecutor David Burns told the court the mother and her daughter were visiting the tourist hotspot on holiday when a man “approached the girl, placed her into a headlock, he’s then stabbed her eight times to the body”.
The scene after the stabbing on Monday. Picture: Alamy[5]
A local security guard, who witnesses say tackled the knifeman to the ground, told LBC: “I heard a scream, at that moment I saw there was one person, roughly (in their) mid-30s or early 30s, and he was like stabbing a kid.
“I jumped on him, held the hand in which he was (carrying) a knife, and just put him down on the floor and just held him and took the knife away from him.
“Then a couple of more people joined as well, and we just held him until the police came, it took maybe three to four minutes for the police to arrive and then they just took him into custody.”
Pintaru has been remanded in custody and will next appear at the Old Bailey on September 10. Picture: Facebook
He and his colleagues gave first aid to the child before the police joined in, he said.
Mr Burns added: “In relation to the complainant – she was taken to hospital and she currently resides in hospital where she’s undergoing treatment”
“I understand that she required plastic surgery for the injuries she sustained.”
They said at first they had mistakenly reported that the girl’s mother, 34, was also hurt because she had her daughter’s blood on her.
Pintaru was remanded in custody and will next appear at the Old Bailey on September 10.