A man who appears to have a migrant background has been ordered to serve eight years in prison after a UK court last week found him guilty of nearly stabbing a mother to death before swinging her baby by its legs and slamming his head repeatedly against a wall.
The Wolverhampton Crown Court in West Midlands, England, sentenced 33-year-old Aamer Araf to eight years in prison with four years of probation after he pled guilty to causing grievous bodily harm last Friday, Metro UK reports.
The brutal attack dates back to the early hours of May 28, 2020, when West Midlands Police were called to a “domestic incident” at a residence in the town of Tipton. According to authorities, Araf, after repeatedly stabbing a 37-year-old woman with a kitchen knife and leaving her unconscious in a pool of her own blood, began swinging her seven-month-old son by his legs, banging his head against the wall over and over again.
When police arrived at the scene, Araf then used the seven-month-year-old baby as a human shield to avoid arrest, but was subsequently tasered, allowing officers to rescue the young child.
Both victims — the baby, who was in critical condition with head injuries, and his mother, who had suffered multiple stab wounds to her face, hands, and thigh, as well a broken hand — were then rushed to the hospital by emergency services.
Araf was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and taken into police custody.
Commenting on the horrifying attack, Detective Constable Deborah Bullman, from the West Midlands Police Public Protection Unit, said, “This was a dreadful incident with mother and son suffering terrible injuries, but remarkable the little boy has made an astonishing recovery, although he will still need to be monitored as he grows, to determine if there are any lasting effects.”
“His mother still has physical and mental scars for which she is receiving ongoing support.”
“Domestic abuse remains a key priority for us. Sadly since the start of the pandemic last year, we have seen an increase of 17 percent in domestic related incidents, but we have not reduced our response to victims,” Bullman continued.
“The force responds to more than 200 incidents per day, and we remain committed to catching perpetrators.”
Users on social media expressed outrage over what many viewed as a light sentence.
A neighbor who witnessed the aftermath of the attack told local media, “We moved round to the front of the house and looked through the letter box. The lady was lying in blood on the floor, and we called the police.”
Another local said: “A broken kitchen knife with blood on it was lying on the doormat, but I couldn’t see how big it was. They brought the baby out first through the front door then carried the woman out through the back on a stretcher. She was in a bad way.”
Following his arrest, Araf, who had apparently been a habitual user of cannabis, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. For that reason, the court determined the defendant’s “responsibility” for his criminal actions to be “diminished”, and reduced his original sentence of 12 years down to eight years.
“It’s about time this so-called criminal justice system got an update to 2021. 12 years down to 8 years! They will probably let him out in 4 years for good behaviour,” said one user.
Another said, “If the public knew what goes on in the criminal justice system they would be appalled. I have worked in the system over 20 years, and it is who you know and how many deals can be made between prosecution and defence, there is a lack of supervision of offenders, etc. The system is broken and does not work.”