A brave 11-year-old Australian girl has spoken about her terrifying ordeal after she was grabbed in a headlock and stabbed eight times in London’s busy Leicester Square.
Laila Johnson was on a trip with her mother, Samantha, exploring London after travelling to see the Matildas play in the Olympic Games in Paris, when the pair were allegedly confronted by homeless man Ioan Pintaru.
Laila Johnson survived a stabbing attack in London. Credit: Facebook
Pintaru allegedly attacked Laila with a steak knife as her mother tried to shield her daughter.
“I’m still so scared, it was awful. I couldn’t sleep,” Laila told Ben Fordham on 2GB.
A security guard working at a nearby tea store saw the attack unfold and bolted to Laila’s aid, tackling the knifeman and disarming him.
Laila suffered stab wounds to her face, shoulder, wrist and neck, police said. Samantha was covered in her daughter’s blood – so much so that police initially thought she was also wounded.
Laila thanked those who helped her and her mother, and gave a special shout-out to her plastic surgeon, whom she calls “Sweet Pea”. She praised the medical team in London, who helped her recover so quickly that she was able to fulfil her dream just days after the attack – seeing Taylor Swift in concert.
“I had 21 stitches all together … it was really impressive. I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
A week on from her ordeal, Laila will on Thursday go back to school, where she is excited to catch up with her friends. The family are from Candelo, a regional NSW town near Bega.
Samantha Johnson said she was in awe of her little girl’s bravery.
The scene of Laila’s ordeal.Credit: Getty Images
“She’s incredible … a force to be reckoned with, our girl,” her mother said.
As the family gets back to ordinary life in Candelo, Pintaru, a 32-year-old Romanian citizen, is behind bars after being charged with attempted murder. He will face the Old Bailey, London’s criminal court, on September 10.
Police don’t believe the attack was terrorism-related, and instead believe Laila’s ordeal to be a random attack.
Last week, one of Laila’s heroes, security guard Abdullah, was honoured at the Pakistani high commission in London.
“I was on my duty. It was half past 11. I heard a scream and I looked and there was a guy that was stabbing a kid that was 11 years old. I didn’t think anything, I just ran toward the guy, I jumped on him, grabbed his hand in which he was carrying a knife,” he recounted.
“The second [the knife] fell on the floor ... I kicked the knife away from him. In the meantime, a couple more guys came … we held him on the floor for four to five minutes, I shouted around ‘Please call the police, call the ambulance services,’ ” he said.
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