Security guard recognised for bravery after Leicester Square attack
The 11-year-old who suffered serious injuries was an Australian.
The security guard who helped disarm an alleged knife attacker in Leicester Square has been recognised for his bravery at the Pakistan High Commission in London.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed it was āproviding consular assistanceā to two injured Australians after Mondayās attack.
The 29-year-old security guard, known as Abdullah, told the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) he āheard a screamā before running towards the incident, after being the guest of honour at the Pakistan Independence Day event held by the High Commission on Wednesday.
He told ABC: āI would say that Iām a brave person. We Pakistanis are brave by heart. So I wasnāt scared.
āIāve never seen anything like it before, it was horrible.ā
An 11-year-old girl was allegedly stabbed āeight timesā by Ioan Pintaru, 32. The Metropolitan Police said she suffered serious injuries that are not life-threatening.
The girlās 34-year-old mother was initially thought to have been hurt, but blood from her daughterās injuries had been mistaken for injuries, police said
A DFAT spokesman confirmed it is āproviding consular assistance to two Australians injured in Londonā but said he was unable to āprovide further commentā due to privacy obligations.
āWe would however ask that the privacy of the family is respected at this difficult time,ā he said.
Pintaru has been charged with the attempted murder of the girl and possession of a bladed article in a public place, said in court to be a steak knife.
He appeared at Westminster Magistratesā Court on Tuesday wearing a grey prison-issue sweatshirt.
The court heard Pintaru 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 a man āapproached the girl, placed her into a headlock, heās then stabbed her eight times to the bodyā.
He said she was wounded in the face, shoulder, wrist and neck area.
The court heard members of the public intervened and when police arrived they found a man being held on the ground.
Mr Burns told the court the girl was still in hospital undergoing treatment and that she required plastic surgery.
Police said on Monday that there was no suggestion the incident was terror-related and officers do not believe the suspect and the victims were known to each other.