Stoke Newington stabbing: Man charged with attempted murder after rabbi attacked
13 June 2020, 19:40
A man has been charged with attempted murder after a rabbi was stabbed multiple times in London.
Police said Stanley Francis, 44, from Stoke Newington, was also charged with possessing an offensive weapon and will appear in custody at Thames Magistrates' Court on Monday.
Rabbi Alter Yaacov Schlesinger, who is in his 50s, was taken to a major trauma centre after the broad daylight attack near a bank in Stoke Newington on Friday. Police said his condition was not life-threatening.
His attacker was restrained by members of the public until police arrived.
One of them, construction site manager Lazar Friedlander, said he ran to the scene with his brother after hearing a "serious scream".
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He said: "We ran outside, I saw a Jewish man covered in blood. I'm Jewish myself, and I can see another Jewish man shouting 'hold him, catch him, he's got a knife! Stabbing!'
"There were a couple of other people trying to grab him. Me and my brother managed to force him down and put his hands behind his back until the police came."
Breakfast producer for Times Radio Aasmah Mir was in the area in the area in the aftermath of the attack.
Writing on Twitter, she said: "Those builders and the delivery driver who jumped on the alleged attacker are just the best. I feel quite emotional about it because people don’t care about their own safety, they just work together to keep everyone else safe.”
