A “crazed” knifeman who stabbed an 11-year-old Australian girl in Leicester Square has been detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act.Ioan Pintaru, 33, “furiously and repeatedly” stabbed the child, who cannot be named due to legal reasons.The girl told officers she “thought she was going to die” as he put her in a headlock and stabbed her eight times in the face, neck and chest.Pintaru, a Romanian national of no fixed address, approached the girl with her mother as they left the Lego store at around 11:30 am on August 12 last year.The mother and daughter had been on a trip to London from Australia to see Taylor Swift perform at Wembley, and were buying gifts for family members prior to the gig when the attack occurred.Prosecutor Heidi Stonecliffe KC said the girl described to the police that she felt something crash into her from behind, hit her on the head and then felt Pintaru’s arms around her.”His weight was on her. She said in the interview that at that moment she thought she was going to die,” Ms Stonecliffe explained.”She felt the defendant stab her in the face and felt the blood from the wound running down her face. She was understandably terrified.”A ‘crazed’ knifeman who stabbed an 11-year-old Australian girl in Leicester Square has been detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act | PAHer mother, who was present via video link, told police the defendant’s arm was moving “like a jackhammer” using “as much force as he could” and that she thought “he was trying to kill her” with a “crazed and vacant” look on his face.She told police he was “wide-eyed and manic like nothing was going to stop him”.The girl, now 13, is said to have physically recovered from the attack, though the mental scars remain.”She is deeply conscious of her scars. The psychological effects of this incident will remain with [her] for the rest of her life,” Ms Stonecliffe said.A security guard, along with two other men, were able to pin Pintaru down and kick away his knife before police arrived minutes later and arrested him. A nurse walking past helped control the victim’s bleeding.The incident occurred in Leicester Square on August 12, 2024 | PAPolice cordoned the area away from the public at the time | PAThe defendant pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent and possession of a knife in October. He had previously denied attempting murder, with the plea accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service after concluding his psychosis meant it his intent to kill could not be proven.On Tuesday, he was joined in the dock with what appeared to be three health workers, and had previously been in a psychiatric hospital in his native Romania, the court heard.Pintaru was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Tuesday to a hospital order under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act and a restriction order under Section 41.This means he can be detained indefinitely.During his police interview, the court heard that the defendant became emotional, crying and screaming “no” when told CCTV footage of the attack would be replayed to him.Pintaru is said to have told a psychiatrist in the aftermath that he did not want to commit the terrifying attack, but felt he had to because he thought he was being followed, and going to prison was the only way to save himself.Judge Richard Marks KC said: “A victim impact statement from [the victim’s] mother described how when the incident unfolded in front of her, she believed with absolute certainty that she was watching her daughter being killed in front of her, and how she relives that moment over and over.”She feels… a deep sense of guilt for not having been able to protect her daughter, and she finds it extremely difficult to allow her independence.”There is a shadow over them that was not there before. This event has altered the course of their lives, the trauma they carry is lifelong.”