Mum saved teenage daughter’s life by fighting off knife-man who stabbed her 22 times in family home

 Saturday, 18 June 2022 – A 20-year-old man has been convicted of attempted murder after stabbing a teenager in her home 22 times before her mum fought him off.

Shaba, of Sandling Rise, Eltham, broke into the house in Dartford, Kent, by unhooking a security lock before entering the 17-year-old’s bedroom with a kitchen knife, Maidstone Crown Court heard.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told court jurors: ‘He picked up a towel and put it over my mouth. I said: “What are you doing?”

‘As I got up he took out a knife and started stabbing me. I remember he stabbed me so many times as my mum was pushing him out.

‘I dropped to the ground. I was bleeding. I literally thought I was going to die.’

The teenager said Shaba deliberately tried to plunge the knife into her heart as she collapsed.

The girl’s mum, whose name was also withheld to protect her daughter’s identity, suffered injuries as she fought off the attacker and forced him out of the house.

Shaba told court jurors he was not present at the house at the time of the incident, but the jury rejected his claims and found him guilty.

Prosecutor Daniel Stevenson said: ‘[The victim] was stabbed in her neck, face, shoulder, back, abdomen and thigh and she suffered 22 separate stab wounds.

“There can be no doubt that this knife attack on a young female in her own bedroom fully intended to prematurely end her life.’

He is already serving another sentence for robbery and for this particular crime is due to be sentenced for the attempted murder charge in August.