Key Points
- The girl was stabbed eight times in the “random attack” on Monday.
- She was taken to hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries.
- There was no suggestion the “random” attack was terrorism-related, police said.
An 11-year-old girl who was seriously injured in a stabbing attack in central London is an Australian, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has said.
The girl was stabbed eight times in the “random attack” on Monday when a man allegedly approached her and her mother in Leicester Square.
She was taken to hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries, police said on Monday.
It was initially believed the girl’s mother, 34, was also hurt, but police said blood from her daughter’s injuries had been mistaken for injuries of her own.
The DFAT confirmed on Wednesday that it was providing consular assistance to two Australians in London. The family is understood to be from NSW, the ABC reported.
A 32-year-old man appeared in court on Tuesday charged with the attempted murder of the young girl in what prosecutors described as a “random attack”.
Ioan Pintaru was also charged with the possession of a bladed article after the girl was stabbed eight times on Monday afternoon in Leicester Square, a tourist hotspot in central London home to shops and theatres.
“The defendant has approached the 11-year-old girl, placed her into a headlock and he has then stabbed her eight times to the body,” Burns said.
She was wounded in the face, shoulder, wrist and neck, he said.
The court heard members of the public intervened and when police arrived they found a man being held on the ground.
There was no suggestion the attack was terrorism-related, police said.
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