A MENTAL health patient who stabbed his cousin in front of horrified shoppers and schoolchildren said he believed a “beast” was attacking him.

Suleiman Saalim, 26, admits slashing his relative with a knife in Station Road, Chingford, at around 2pm on Wednesday January 20 this year, but denies that he intended to harm him.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard that Mr Saalim claimed he saw visions of a “beast” and was trying to scare it off with a knife when he accidentally stabbed his cousin in the chest.

His relative was rushed to hospital in a critical condition but has since recovered from his injuries.

Jurors were told that Mr Saalim, who lived in a flat on Station Road prior to his arrest, has a history of mental health issues, including depression and hearing voices in his head.

He had reportedly not been taking anti-psychotic medication for a month prior to the incident.

However, the court heard how Mr Saalim's own psychiatrist believed that his patient had been using his illness as an excuse, and that such hallucinations were not consistent with his condition.

Two months prior to the stabbing Mr Saalim went to Abu Dhabi in the Middle East to find work, returning home on Tuesday January 19 to discover his cousin had been given a parking ticket while he had been borrowing his car.

Despite initially seeming calm about the fine, the two men later got into an argument, which ended in his cousin wrestling Mr Saalim to the ground and holding him by the neck in the entrance to the Station Road flat.

After passers-by broke up the fight, Mr Saalim went back into the flat but returned with a knife.

He then briefly chased his cousin around some parked cars in the street and then stabbed him, the court heard.

Judge Jacqueline Beech, summing up, said: “The issue here is whether the defendant intended to cause any injury to Mr Saalim [his cousin] when he was wielding the knife.

“For the prosecution it's obvious that the defendant intended to harm Mr Saalim.”

But she said it was the defence's case that “when he [Mr Saalim] found Mr Saalim [his cousin] he saw the beast between him and Mr Saalim and his actions were directed at the beast.”

Mr Saalim denies wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The jury has retired to consider its verdict.

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