Find Tollington Park road-rage attacker, stab victim pleads

Published: 16 July, 2010
by RÓISÍN GADELRAB

A STAB victim who risked his life to rescue a woman fleeing from an angry motorist is urging witnesses to help capture his attacker.

Passers-by watched in horror as the 46-year-old father-of-two, who has asked not to be identified, was stabbed twice in busy Tollington Park, Finsbury Park, after he stepped in to help a woman who came running for help on Saturday evening.

The woman had stopped her car to challenge a driver who hit her wing mirror. He then became angry and came after her.

Her rescuer was leaving a pizza restaurant in Stroud Green Road where he and a friend had taken their children for a treat. 

As they were putting the children, aged three and 10, in the car, the woman came running over asking for help.

The man said: “She was in distress. She’d been threatened with violence by a guy that had hit her car. She was asking for our help.

“She stood between me and a friend and the guy came through the crowd on the pavement and raised his fist as if to hit her. He was going to punch her so I punched him. He got a good ringer. The kids started to get really upset. He started to go back towards the woman so I headbutted him.”

The attacker then disappeared for a few seconds and came back with a weapon.

The victim said: “Then I felt a punch in my back and saw what appeared to be a knife. Then a punch in the chest. It felt like two mild punches. He then tried to stick the knife in my friend but luckily it just glanced his arm. Then he jumped in his car.”

Witnesses tried to stop the attacker driving off but he managed to get away.

The woman’s rescuer added: “My daughter was screaming hysterically. She saw it all. I felt my back was soaking wet. It was at that point I realised I’d been stabbed. I’ve got minor injuries but I’m concerned about the injuries she [his daughter] has mentally from seeing her dad stabbed.”

The man was taken to the nearby Park Tavern, where staff looked after him until an ambulance arrived.

He was taken to the Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, with a two-inch stab wound to the chest and a one-inch wound to his back. He was released two days later.

The victim, who is recovering well from his injuries, said: “I really want the police to nail this guy because he’s a danger to women and children. 

“People probably know who he is but are worried about getting involved. 

“If he can get away with it once, it will have ramifications. I urge the public, whoever was there, to have the courage of your convictions and get in touch with police. You only have to let them know anonymously for the saftey of the area.”