Loan Pintaru, 32, ‘put girl in headlock and stàbbed her eight times’ in Leicester Square

  A man has appeared in court charged with the   attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl  in Leicester Square. Ioan Pintaru, 32, has...

 A man has appeared in court charged with the attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl in Leicester Square.

Ioan Pintaru, 32, has also been charged with possession of a bladed article in a public place, which the court heard was a steak knife.

The 11-year-old was taken to hospital after the stabbing where her injuries were said to be non life-threatening.

The child’s mother, 34, who was with her at the time of the attack, was initially believed to have also been hurt.

Discarded clothing and emergency medical equipment in the TWG Tea shop in Leicester Square (James Manning/PA)

Pintaru appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court this morning wearing a grey prison-issue sweatshirt.

The court heard he is a Romanian citizen of no fixed address and the charges were read to him through an interpreter during the 10-minute hearing.

Prosecutor David Burns said a woman and her 11-year-old daughter were in Leicester Square as tourists when the defendant ‘approached the 11-year-old girl, placed her into a headlock, he’s then stabbed her eight times to the body’.

He added: ‘She sustained wounds to the face, shoulder, wrist and neck area.

Security guard describes tackling Leicester Square knifeman

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