Court told man stabbed mum as she held her son

A CHURCHGOING mum leaving mass was the victim of a frenzied knife attack as she held her three-year-old son in her arms.

Yodit Mogos suffered life-threatening injuries at the hands of delusional Yosief Weldemaryam who believed Mrs Mogos and her husband were trying to kill him.

But even as Weldemaryam plunged a 33cm knife, described by witnesses as a sword, into his victim, she calmly managed to put her son down and away from danger.

Weldemaryam, 28, of no fixed address, earlier pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to the attempted murder of Mrs Mogos over the incident on April 8 last year.

A psychiatrist told the court Weldemaryam was suffering from a ‘schizoeffective disorder, depressive type,’ as well as a thought disorder and delusional and paranoid beliefs.

The court heard Mrs Mogos, who is in her 30s, was among a large number of people who had attended a midnight mass at St Margaret’s Church in Walsgrave Road, Coventry, to mark the Christian Orthodox Easter.

As she left the church shortly after 3am, with her three-year-old son in her arms, she was approached by Weldemaryam who immediately launched his attack.

Believing she was about to die, and thinking only of her son’s safety, Mrs Mogos turned away to put the little boy down as Weldemaryam continued stabbing her.

Eventually Weldemaryam broke off from his attack and ran away as Mrs Mogos lay bleeding on the ground with lifethreatening injuries, said prosecutor Peter GrievesSmith.

She was rushed to hospital with severe internal injuries including bleeding to the artery around the stomach, a laceration of her left kidney, a perforated stomach, and a perforation to the vein taking blood back to her heart from her lower body.

Such was the extent of the bleeding she needed 31 units of blood and plasma during an initial operation. She later went on to develop signs of liver failure.

A liver transplant surgeon from Birmingham was brought in to operate, during which surgery she needed a further 30 units of blood and plasma, and it was found part of her liver had died.

Mrs Mogos was in hospital for 44 days, during which time she was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth in Birmingham.

As well as severe scarring and the damage to her liver, the court heard she had also been left with an enlarged heart. Later the same day Weldemaryam walked into a police station and admitted what he had done, but was not considered well enough to be interviewed until October.

He said he was unable to recall the incident, but claimed Mrs Mogos had put something negative concerning him on Facebook and that her husband had made remarks at work about his mother which had caused him to change jobs.

In a statement, Mrs Mogos said she lost her job because of the time she was away from work, and her husband missed two months’ work, which has had a financial impact on the family.

But more significantly, her young son has been suffering flashbacks over what happened.

She revealed that prior to that night her mother back home in Eritrea had been told by Weldemaryam’s brother that she should expect the coffin of her daughter and grandchild.

And recalling the incident, she said: “I remembered what had been said. I thought ‘let it happen to me but do not hurt my son.’ This is why I slowly turned while still being stabbed and gently placed my son on the ground.”

But Mrs Mogos added: “I don’t hate him, I feel sorry for him. I am a good person, and I see the good in everyone. I have forgiven him in my heart.”

Psychiatrist Dr Sajid Muzaffar said Weldemaryam, who sat in the dock flanked by staff from Reaside psychiatric clinic in Birmingham, where he has been held in a secure unit, has ‘a severe mental health disorder.’

He said Weldemaryam, who followed proceedings with the help of a Tigrinya interpreter, suffers from ‘schizo-effective disorder, depressive type,’ as well as a thought disorder and delusional and paranoid beliefs.

“He reported that he felt under threat and believed he was going to be killed, and that the victim and her husband were leading a plan to kill him, and that there was a computer-led operation that was tracking him,” said Mr Muzaffar.

At a previous hearing the court heard that in an initial report on Weldemaryam, Dr Karim Rajput had expressed the opinion that ‘a hybrid order is the appropriate disposal.’

Under a hybrid order, a judge orders a defendant to be detained under the Mental Health Act at a secure psychiatric unit for treatment - but also imposes the appropriate prison sentence.

Once a person is considered fit to be discharged after treatment, instead of being released into the community, they are transferred to a prison to serve the rest of the sentence.

But Dr Muzaffar argued against that and in favour of a hospital order with a restriction under which, when he was fit to be discharged, it would be into the community, but only with the approval of the Secretary of State.

He said a hybrid order could lead to Weldemaryam being returned to prison at a much earlier stage than he would have been released into the community, and there would not be the same level of monitoring of his mental health.

“Our focus is to get him better and get him into the community in safety,” added Dr Muzaffar.

And arguing in favour of that course, Adam Western, defending, said: “Your Honour has heard evidence that this offence occurred as a direct result of his mental disorder.

“It follows that if he had not been unwell, he would not have committed this offence.”

Judge Andrew Lockhart QC said he wanted time to consider what sentence to pass, and adjourned the case to a date when both barristers and the interpreter are available.