CROSSBOW MURDER
Ex-husband is charged
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A BABY was born alive after a crossbow bolt which killed his mum missed him by inches in the womb.
Tiny Ibrahim Muhammad was delivered by emergency caesarean section after his mother Sana, 35, was shot at her home.
The mum-of-five, who was eight months’ pregnant, was rushed to hospital but died. Doctors performed a C-section on her with the crossbow bolt still in place. Last night, baby Ibrahim was in a stable condition.
Sana’s husband Imtiaz, 42, told how he was chased by a man he had found hiding in a shed at the family’s home in Ilford, east London, on Monday.
He said: “I went to put a cardboard box in the shed. He was there with the crossbow loaded. He was going to shoot so I ran into the house.
“My wife was doing the washingup. I was shouting: ‘Run, run run.’ He shot her. I can’t help thinking she took my arrow.’’
Imtiaz said the attack happened in front of Sana’s children aged two, five, 12, 14, and 18. ’
A witness said: “A tenant living with the family told me Sana was shot as she ran up the stairs. The dart passed through her thigh from behind into her stomach.”
Det Chief Insp Gary Holmes said: “This is a tragic incident and our sympathies are with the loved ones and friends of the victim.’’
Sana’s ex-husband Ramanodge Unmathallegadoo, 50, of no fixed address, yesterday appeared at Barkingside Magistrates Court charged with murder. He will appear at the Old Bailey tomorrow.
THE number of murders in London so far this year has now passed the total for the whole of 2017.
A grim spate of bloodshed in the capital has sent the total rocketing to 119.
This includes five stabbing murders in the week from October 31.
The latest was a 62-year-old woman killed in Balham, south London, after a “fatal assault” on Monday.
A 66-year-old man has been arrested. Home Office figures revealed there were 118 murders in London last year, excluding the 13 victims of the terrorist attacks at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Finsbury Park.
This was a rise on the 111 recorded in 2016.
Before this the number of recorded crimes had been falling from 164 in 2007 to 91 in 2014.
In response to this year’s crimewave, the Metropolitan Police set up its Violent Crime Task Force. The unit has made more than 1,350 arrests and seized 340 knives, 40 guns and 258 other offensive weapons.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan also announced plans for a violence reduction unit that aimed to tackle violent crime which was successfully used in Glasgow.
Authorities north of the border started to look at violence as a public health issue rather than just a police matter. Experts reckon that police working alone have a limited capacity to prevent knife crime.
Police have pointed to links between violence and so-called county lines drug networks, where urban dealers force children to courier illegal substances in rural parts of the country.
Gangs are known to take over the houses of innocent people to use them as a base for crime.
Middle class users of cocaine have also come under fire from Scotland Yard Commissioner Cressida Dick.
Drill music, where rappers taunt rivals with lyrics laced with violence, has also been blamed for the rise.