Stranger who tried to kill woman with bottle in Leeds was stopped by public, judge hears

A woman who was attacked by stranger who tried to kill her with a broken bottle as she walked home from a meal out was saved by members of the public who had to knock the man unconscious to make him stop, a court has heard.

Ibrahim Albashir grabbed the woman and had injured her head, neck and chest when a group of men responded to her “blood-curdling screams”, and eventually got him to let go by punching him temporarily unconscious, Leeds Crown Court heard.

On Tuesday, Albashir, 34, who is originally from Sudan and has catatonic schizophrenia, was given a 25-year prison sentence along with an indefinite hospital order after admitting attempted murder at an earlier hearing.

Judge Robin Mairs explained that this means he will be detained indefinitely in a secure mental hospital and, if he ever recovers, he will be transferred to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence.

He said it was not a matter for him whether the defendant, who told doctors he was brought to the UK by people smugglers, is deported.

Judge Mairs said the attack happened opposite the Original Oak pub, on Otley Road, in the Headingley area of Leeds at about 9pm on March 17 2024.

He described how Albashir grabbed the woman from behind in a stranglehold and stabbed her as many as 30 times with the glass in his other hand.

One witness described the attack as “frenzied” and another “thought he was trying to kill her”.

The attack continued despite attempts by a group of men, including nearby doormen, to intervene and Albashir only released the woman when one of the men punched him so hard he was temporarily rendered unconscious.

The judge said “it is by good fortune alone that (the woman) escaped with relatively minor injuries”, but noted that the victim’s mental scars are “profound and lifelong”.

The judge said he was also worried about concerns raised about the defendant’s sexual conduct – including a sexual assault in a hotel where he was staying in Birmingham and another involving a member of staff while detained in hospital.

He also exposed himself to a doctor, Judge Mairs said.

The judge told the defendant: “It is of significance you chose to attack a lone female”, adding: “The common sense conclusion is that there was a sexual element to the attack.”

The woman listened from the public gallery as her victim personal statement was read to the court.

In it, the woman described how Albashir grabbed her as she walked home from a meal out by herself in a nearby restaurant.

She said her physical injuries may have been relatively minor but “my mental injuries are scars that will stay with me forever and will always affect me”.

She said she has a scar on her chest which is a “constant reminder of what happened that night”.

She said that, when she is asked about it, “I have to relive the worst day of my life all over again”.

The woman said in the statement: “I still have no idea why he attacked me.”

She said: “It’s not knowing why he did this to me that makes it difficult to process.”

She said that walking past the location of the attack “fills me with panic and dread”, and described how the attack has “completely changed the way I live my life”.

Judge Mairs explained how the defendant told doctors he was born and lived in Sudan until was 25 and then travelled via Libya and Italy to France, where he spent some time in a mental hospital and was evenutally refused asylum.

The judge said Albashir told medical staff he arrived in the UK from Calais having “used the services of people smugglers” and lived in Luton, Coventry and Birmingham before ending up in a hostel in Barrow-in-Furness.

He ended up in Leeds when he was thrown off a Manchester to York train for having no ticket, the court heard.

Two days before the attack in Headingley, Albashir was stopped by police in the area after he was found with his trousers round his ankles and in a “trance-like state”, but he was released with no action taken.

Consultant forensic psychiatrist Lucy Bacon told the court that all doctors agree that Albashir has catatonic schizophrenia.

Katherine Robinson, defending, told the court the offence “would not have occurred had this defendant not been experiencing a psychotic episode”.

But Ms Robinson said it must have been a “completely horrific and terrifying event” for her client’s victim.

Albashir appeared on video link from hospital for the sentencing hearing.