Bus stop stab victim's family 'troubled' by case

The family of a grandmother who was fatally stabbed at a bus stop have spoken out about the "deeply troubling" facts that her mentally ill killer was able to access gory videos and buy a hunting knife online.

Medical secretary Anita Mukhey, 66, was stabbed by Jala Debella, 24, in front of passers-by in Edgware, north London, on the morning of 9 May 2024.

Debella then "casually" walked away while people rushed to help the victim and call 999. Mukhey died at the scene despite efforts by medics, police and members of the public.

Debella was deemed too unwell to stand trial for murder and following a trial of issue at the Old Bailey, a jury found he had committed the act of killing Mukhey.

The court was told Debella was obsessed with gory online videos and was able to buy the hunting knife on the internet despite living in a residential home supporting people with mental health problems.

The knife was delivered to his home in Colindale, north London, about an hour before he used it to stab Mukhey 18 times, an act which mirrored violence he had watched, the court heard.

In a statement, Mukhey's family expressed their concern about how her killer was able to access a knife.

They said: "Many of us know what it means to have a mother who is the heart of the family. That was true for us.

"As this case has unfolded, certain deeply troubling facts have emerged.

"The court has heard that a man with a severe mental illness was known to services and assessed by consultant psychiatrists as psychologically stable and safe for the community.

"At the same time, he was engaging in escalating behaviour outside those assessments, including acquiring weapons and researching extreme violence - behaviour that ultimately mirrored the violence he later carried out.

"That disconnect is hard to accept. It raises serious questions about how risk is assessed, and about whether current models are equipped to detect danger that develops beyond the spoken words of the consulting room."

The family questioned how Debella was able to purchase a knife online while living in a staffed and Care Quality Commission-registered mental health rehabilitation home.

"Whether that is right, lawful or safe is not something this trial has examined - but it is something that must now be properly scrutinised," the statement said.

"We recognise that these questions fall outside the scope of today's proceedings. We want to be clear that our family stands ready to assist the coroner in any future inquest, in the interests of learning lessons and strengthening public protection."

Two months before the killing, Debella bought a 21cm-long blade for £120 from a shop in Covent Garden, jurors heard.

Less than a month before, he had tried to buy a fixed blade knife online but the vendor declined to supply it to him because of where he lived.

Three days before the killing, he successfully purchased the hunting knife he used to kill Mukhey.

Before setting off, Debella searched on his computer for "killing video" and visited a website containing graphic violent content, jurors heard.

After he returned home following the attack, Debella searched the internet for "knife", "gore video" and "breaking news".

The jury deliberated for less than an hour to reach a finding that he had stabbed and killed Mukhey and had owned the knife.

Adjourning sentencing until Friday, Judge Philip Katz KC told jurors that Debella would continue to be detained at a secure hospital in Liverpool, where he is being treated for paranoid schizophrenia.

The judge said if Debella recovered, he could be tried for murder.

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