A young man who was knifed in the throat died in the arms of a passing au pair. The man, in his twenties, was the fourth fatal stabbing victim in London in a week of knife carnage.
Neighbours said a row broke out between two groups hanging around in cars near Wandsworth Common before up to four men chased their target and lunged at him with a blade at 7pm.
One was heard to scream “I’ll show you what will happen” before plunging the knife into the victim’s throat and then fleeing on foot. The victim collapsed on Melody Road outside Wandsworth Primary School.
A resident said his 24-year-old Australian live-in nanny desperately tried to help the young man. The father-of-two, 45, said: “She saw the argument break out, there was lots of shouting and fronting-up between the groups.
“She didn’t see the knife, it was so quick, but the man collapsed in a pool of blood. She stepped in to stop the bleeding and try CPR, she couldn’t just stand there.
“She came back home shaking and covered in blood which gave the kids a fright. She’s distraught she couldn’t save him, she had to co-ordinate a lot of people in a chaotic situation while calling the ambulance. It looked like he had been stabbed in the neck, his skin had gone so pale. He died in her arms.”
Doctors from the London air ambulance, which landed on the common, also tried to save the man. He was pronounced dead at the scene 30 minutes later. Members of a knitting circle had been attending their weekly meeting in the church next door.
Another witness said: “I saw a guy lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Then a guy who was running barged into me. He ran to a black car, looked in the back then came back to look at the stabbed guy. He then ran back to the car and took off in a hurry. I saw another man running away in the opposite direction.”
On Saturday, Mohamed Hasan, 17, was fatally stabbed by a gang less than a mile away on a Battersea estate.
Police have deployed more officers in Wandsworth. One resident, Christine Dyson tweeted local MP Jane Ellison, saying: “Wandsworth and Battersea residents need action now. These stabbings and deaths of our young people must stop. Help us.”
The Met said the victim’s identity was known and his family had been told. There have been no arrests.
GULF TIMES
