Tunisian man gets life imprisonment for murder of Indian-origin teenager in London

London (Uttam Hindu News): A Tunisian national accused of murdering and beheading a 19-year-old Indian-origin student at her university residence in London in 2022 has been locked up indefinitely in a psychiatric hospital.

Maher Maroufe, 24, stabbed his girlfriend Sabita Thanwani, an aspiring psychologist, in the neck at their Arbor House student flat in the Clerkenwell area of ​​London on March 19, 2022.

Appearing before the Old Bailey last year, Maroufe admitted the murder and said he was suffering from schizoaffective disorder at the time.

They also convicted him of assault by beating an emergency worker.

Sentencing him on Monday, Judge Nigel Lickley Casey said Maroufe carried out the attack during the “peak” of psychosis, the BBC reports.

The judge told Maroufe, “Sabita had her whole life ahead of her. You ended his life. “Your actions will continue to cause pain and suffering.”

Maarouf was in the process of seeking asylum in Britain at the time of the incident.

“According to the prosecution, Maarouf consumed cannabis and attacked Thanwani.”

The evening before the attack, they met outside a mosque and spent time in central London.

After Thanwani returned to the residence, other students heard her shouting “stop”, “I can’t breathe” and “I beg you, don’t hit me”.

Police noticed blood stains around the bed, as well as a blanket and quilt on the floor of Thanwani’s room.

He was pronounced dead at the scene at 6 a.m., and a post-mortem examination determined the cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the neck.

Maroufe was found by police sleeping under a tarpaulin in a garden shed, and he head-butted a police officer while trying to avoid arrest.

Thanwani’s family, in a statement released at the time of her death, described her as an “angel” and said she had a “bright smile and incredible heart.”