11-year-old Australian girl identified as London stabbing victim
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has confirmed that the 11-year-old girl stabbed in Leicester Square in London on Monday is Australian.
“Owing to our privacy obligations we cannot provide further comment,” a DFAT spokesperson said.
The girl's mother, 34, was initially believed to have also been hurt, but UK police have confirmed that blood from her daughter's injuries had been mistaken for injuries of her own.
The young girl was taken to hospital with serious but not life threatening injuries to the face, shoulder, wrist and neck area, and will require plastic surgery for the injuries she sustained.
The DFAT are providing consular assistance to the pair reportedly from NSW, according to the ABC.
A 32-year-old man, Ioan Pintaru, was arrested and appeared in court on Tuesday charged with the attempted murder.
The girl and her mother were visiting the busy tourist area at the time of the random attack.
Pintaru is a Romanian citizen with no fixed address, and spoke through a translator during the court hearing.
Prosecutor David Burns told the court: "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."
Pintaru was detained by members of the public and allegedly found with a steak knife.
Abdullah, a security who was working nearby during the random attack said he “heard a scream” before tackling the alleged offender to the ground.
“I just saw a kid getting stabbed and I just tried to save her. It’s my duty to just save them,” he told the Press Association.
“I jumped on him, held the hand in which he was [carrying] a knife, and just put him down on the floor and just held him and took the knife away from him.”
He performed CPR on the child before emergency services arrived at the scene.
Police have said that Pintaru did not know the girl or her mother and do not believe the stabbing was terror-related.
Pintaru was remanded in custody and is due to appear in court again on September 10.
Images: 9News