Man jailed for stabbing seven after suffering delusions

A young man driven to stab seven people by delusions of voices in his head and thinking passersby were reading his thoughts and laughing at him was sentenced to indefinite detention at Rampton hospital today. Raheem Nawaz, 20, nearly killed two of his victims after fuelling his psychiatric condition with alcohol and drugs, buying a knife and going on the rampage in Keighley, West Yorkshire. His first attack was on Mohammed Nazam, a neighbour he knew, but he then launched himself randomly at people going home after an evening out. Three women waiting for a taxi outside a pub were stabbed before he knifed another on her own and a local man also waiting for a taxi. His final victim, in what Bradford crown court heard was a "bizarre turn of events", was the uncle of his first, who was attacked on the way back from seeing his nephew in hospital. Nawaz suffered minor injuries himself when he was detained by passersby who ran to the scene to help. The court heard that Nawaz remained seriously disturbed but his condition would be treatable at Rampton. The Recorder of Bradford, Judge James Stewart QC, told him: "You went on the rampage, wildly stabbing seven people quite indiscriminately. You had no issue with any of your victims. You just decided to stab them. You shouted 'I will kill you motherfuckers' and that is precisely what you attempted to do. The public will be relieved that you may never be free again to behave like this." The judge commended two passersby, Matthew Dykes and William Smith, for probably saving the life of Sarah Wade, who was attacked with her friends Carol Owlett and Fiona Haughey. He said that in each attack, Nawaz appeared to have aimed for the heart, and the men's action in stemming Wade's flow of blood had been crucial. The other victims, Fiona Moorhouse, James French and Majid Hussein, suffered neck and shoulder wounds as they tried to dodge Nawaz's blows. French was attacked as he went to help of one of the others. Nawaz admitted seven charges of attempted murder.