A security guard who intervened to disarm a knifeman attacking an 11-year-old girl in Leicester Square has described the victim as being 'like my younger sister'. Abdullah Tanoli, 30, was working at a shop on the busy central London plaza when he heard screams on the morning of 12 August last year.
Mr Tanoli told the BBC the sound was 'not normal screaming', adding: 'You know when a child is just crying, but when someone is being hurt, that scream is different.' He rushed outside to find the girl, an Australian tourist, being repeatedly stabbed by Ioan Pintaru, 33.
Pintaru had approached the girl as she left the Lego store with her mother, placed her in a headlock and stabbed her eight times in the face, neck and chest. Mr Tanoli grabbed Pintaru's hand, causing him to drop the knife, which the guard kicked away. Along with two other men, he pinned Pintaru down until police arrived.
Pintaru was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Tuesday to a hospital order under the Mental Health Act, meaning he can be detained indefinitely. Judge Richard Marks KC commended Mr Tanoli's bravery and ordered a £1,000 reward from public funds.
Mr Tanoli has remained in contact with the victim's mother since the attack and said of the girl, now 13: 'I consider her like my younger sister.' The court heard she has physically recovered but bears 'invisible scars'. Detective Constable Laura Nicoll praised the guard's 'selfless act', saying it showed 'the best of London'.
