Girl repeatedly stabbed in Leicester Square ‘thought she was going to die’

A girl who was stabbed “furiously and repeatedly” in a random knife attack in Leicester Square thought she was going to die, a court has heard.

The Australian child, who was 11 years old at the time, was on holiday with her mother when she was targeted by Ioan Pintaru in London’s West End on the morning of August 12 last year.

The defendant, 33, approached the girl as she left the Lego store at around 11.30am where she and her mother had been buying gifts for their family, placed her in a headlock and stabbed her eight times in the face, neck and chest.

Pintaru, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty in October to causing grievous bodily harm with intent and possession of a knife and is due to be sentenced on Tuesday.

He originally faced a charge of attempted murder but the prosecution decided that his psychosis at the time of the offence meant it could not be proven that he had an intent to kill, the Old Bailey heard.

On Tuesday, the Crown offered no evidence in respect of the attempted murder count.

Opening the case, prosecutor Heidi Stonecliffe KC said the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, described in an interview with police how she felt something crash into her from behind and hit her on the head.

“She felt the defendant’s arm wrap itself around her,” Ms Stonecliffe said.

“His weight was on her. She said in the interview that at that moment she thought she was going to die.

“She felt the defendant stab her in the face and felt the blood from the wound running down her face.

“She was understandably terrified.”

Her mother, who watched proceedings over a video link, told police she saw Pintaru “furiously and repeatedly” stabbing her daughter.

She said his arm was moving “like a jackhammer” using “as much force as he could” and that she thought “he was trying to kill her” with a “crazed and vacant” expression.

She added that he was “wide-eyed and manic like nothing was going to stop him”.

A security guard working at TWG Tea, named only as Abdullah, rushed to intervene and managed to grab Pintaru’s knife-wielding hand, leading the defendant to drop the weapon which Abdullah then kicked away.

He and two other men were able to pin Pintaru down before police arrived minutes later and arrested him.

A nurse who happened to be walking past stopped to help stem the 11-year-old’s bleeding after she fell to the ground having been released by the defendant.

The court heard the girl, now 13, has recovered physically from her wounds but that “invisible scars” remain.

“She is deeply conscious of her scars,” Ms Stonecliffe said. “The psychological effects of this incident will remain with (her) for the rest of her life.”

The court heard Pintaru became upset during his interview with the police, particularly when officers told him they were going to show him pictures of the injuries he inflicted.

He is said to have put his head in his hands, cried and said “no” to the prospect of viewing CCTV footage of the attack.

Pintaru, in the dock with what appeared to be three health workers, had previously been admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Romania, the court heard.

In assessments after the attack, Pintaru told one psychiatrist he had not wanted to commit the offence but believed he was being followed and that the only way to save himself was to get himself sent to prison, the prosecutor said.

The sentencing hearing continues.