Kentish Town man jailed for knife attack
A man from Kentish Town who left a secretary crippled in a horrific knife attack has been jailed for nine and a half years. Joe Omos's 54 year-old victim fought back bravely when he tried to make off with her bag.
"He was chopping at my hand with a big knife to make me let go but I wouldn't," she told an Old Bailey jury.
The woman suffered tendon damage and is still receiving treatment, six months after the nightmare incident, in Birbeck Road, Mill Hill, as she made her way home.
Omos, 23, of Malden Road, escaped but was arrested a fortnight later in Watling Avenue, Edgware, carrying another knife. But he was wearing a distinctive check jacket which the victim easily identified, said prosecutor Paul Evans.
Unemployed Omos claimed to have been mistakenly picked out but the jury convicted him on counts of attempted robbery, wounding and possessing knives.
Judge Peter Thornton QC described the attack as "wicked" and branded Omos "dangerous" during a hearing on Monday.
Giving evidence from behind a screen, the victim described how he approached her and tried to wrestle her shoulder bag from her.
"I started fighting and screaming. I had two shopping bags and was hitting out at him with those. People came from their houses and he ran off," she said.
DAVID ST GEORGE