Golders Green stabber appears at Old Bailey

The Golders Green knifeman who stabbed two Jewish victims in a rampage through north London has appeared at the Old Bailey for the first time.

Essa Suleiman, 45, tried to murder his friend Ishmael Hussein at his home in Southwark before going to north London to attack Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76, it is claimed.

The British national, born in Somalia, is charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a bladed article in a public place over what police declared a terrorist incident on Wednesday, April 29.

He appeared on a video link from HMP Belmarsh wearing a grey prison tracksuit, slumped backwards with his arms crossed on a red three-seater bench.

Suleiman spoke only to confirm his name and age and appeared relaxed throughout the hearing.

At the Old Bailey prosecutor Deanna Heer KC said the men stabbed in Golders Green ‘were obviously members of the Jewish community’.

Mr Rand was stabbed in the chest while leaving a synagogue where he was studying, suffering a punctured lung.

Mr Shine was wearing Jewish clothing when he was stabbed multiple times, including to his neck, and spent several days recovering in hospital.

‘The incident came to an end when another member of the public tried to disarm the defendant and tried to take the knife off him,’ said Ms Heer.

Suleiman previously worked as a Somali translator, a security guard, and sometimes at sports pitches at a school in Wiltshire.

There are legal restrictions on reporting Suleiman’s address, as it is supported housing for mental health patients under the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust where he had been a patient.

Fixing the next hearing, Mrs Justice-Cheema Grubb said: ‘I have made some directions about your case. We will meet again when there is a further hearing on this case on 25 September this year. You will appear again via CVP.’