Edmonton stabbing: Paralysed victim ‘too afraid to leave house’

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A mother receiving treatment for breast cancer was one of five people hurt in a series of random knife attacks, a court has heard.

Ayfer Bektas, 45, was left paralysed after she was attacked from behind by Jason Kakaire near her home in Edmonton, north London, last March.

Jason Kakaire, 30, pleaded guilty to stabbing five people during a four-day spree last year.

He will be sentenced at the Old Bailey at later date.

Prosecutors said Kakaire told police he heard voices in his head telling him to kill in lead-up to the attacks.

Kakaire, who had been held in Broadmoor Hospital, had denied five counts of attempted murder but changed his plea on the first day of his trial.

Rossano Scamardella QC, prosecuting, said Ms Bektas was one of four victims left with life-threatening injuries between 30 March and 2 April last year.

She suffered injuries including a severed spinal cord.

‘Life turned upside down’

Prosecutors said she was knifed in the back with such ferocity that the handle snapped and the blade was embedded in her.

It had to be surgically removed.

Ms Bektas said the injuries have “totally changed my life forever”.

“I shout out in public. I am too fearful to venture outside unless I absolutely have to. I have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety,” she said in a statement.

“I wake up so many times at night, if I manage to sleep at all. I do not cope well in crowded places either.

“My husband has not been able to work any more. My life has in one moment been turned upside down. I have no social life.”

The stabbings were all carried out near Kakaire’s home in Cameron Close, Edmonton.

He will be sentenced at a later date following psychological reports.

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