A homeless Romanian who stabbed an 11-year-old Australian girl eight times in the centre of London has had his attempted murder charge dropped on mental health grounds.
The young girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was leaving a Lego store in Leicester Square with her mother while on holiday on August 12 last year when Ioan-Alexandru Pintaru, 33, put her in a headlock and stabbed her all over her body.
She suffered injuries to her face, neck, shoulder and wrist in the attack and was rushed to hospital where she underwent plastic surgery, while her mother was unharmed but left soaked in her daughter’s blood.
Pintaru pleaded guilty to wounding the girl with intent to do grievous bodily harm and possession of a knife, but denied attempted murder and was due to face trial on Monday.
But prosecutors on Tuesday said psychiatric evaluations showed Pintaru had a psychotic condition at the time that may have impaired his ability to form a judgement about killing as opposed to causing harm, and decided they therefore would be unable to prove he “specifically intended to kill”.
Pintaru will now be sentenced for the lesser charge on December 17.
“Our thoughts remain with the victim and family affected by the horrendous actions of Ioan Pintaru – who remains criminally responsible and will be sentenced accordingly,” the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement.
“The decision to accept a guilty plea to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm was taken after carefully reviewing evidence provided by two separate expert psychiatrists.
“The impact of the expert evidence meant that we could not prove that Pintaru specifically intended to kill, which is an essential element of an attempted murder offence. We explained our decision to the family in detail and will continue to assist and support them.”
The girl and her mother were in London to see Taylor Swift perform at Wembley after cheering on Australia at the Paris Olympics when Pintaru attacked the child.
The decision came on the same day as an Afghan illegal immigrant stabbed a dog walker to death and wounded two others in a knife rampage in Uxbridge, in London’s northwest, sparking calls for mass deportations.
Header image: Left, Pintaru. Right, being taken into custody at the scene (supplied).
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