Fifth victim in Edmonton stabbing spree was father out buying medicine for sick son

Suleyman Karayapi was the fifth person to be attacked in a spate of stabbings in Edmonton
Magda Ibrahim8 April 2019
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A father who was left critically injured after being knifed during a series of stabbings in Edmonton was buying medicine for his son when he was attacked, his pregnant wife said today.

Suleyman Karayapi, 45, was the fifth person to be stabbed in the back in a spate of apparently random assaults in the space of just four days last week.

He was taken to hospital in a critical condition and was still recovering there last night.

His wife Ayse, 40, who is expecting the couple’s fourth child within days, said she ran crying from the family home when her husband called her after being stabbed 300 yards away.

“Suleyman was on his way to get medicine for one of our sons because he couldn’t sleep — he was unwell with a temperature. He left the house and 10 minutes later he called and said he had been stabbed,” she told the Standard.

“I immediately started crying. I ran from the house to the police officer who was posted in Aberdeen Road after another attack in the road and told him to go to Fairfield Road.

Police at the scene of a stabbing in Edmonton
Jeremy Selwyn

“We have lived in Edmonton for 13 years and I never expected anything like this to happen.”

She said her husband, who is originally from Turkey, was expecting to be able to return home from hospital almost a week after the attack at about 5am on Tuesday. “He is a lovely man, he loved playing football with his sons,” Mrs Karayapi added.

“As I am pregnant he has been so worried about us all, he has been scared about the pregnancy. It has been so scary.”

She added: “We are happy it wasn’t more serious for us and my husband is recovering well but the attacker needs to be punished.”

The attack on Mr Karayapi — who already has twin boys aged 13 and a 15-year-old son — came two days after four other people were stabbed in the back in a 15-hour spree between 7pm on Saturday, March 31, and 10am the following day.

In the first stabbing on March 30, a 45-year-old woman was left with a severed spinal cord after being knifed in Aberdeen Road, and is now paralysed.

A 52-year-old man stabbed in Park Avenue on March 30 and a 29-year-old knifed in Brettenham Road the next day have been released from hospital, while a 23-year-old man remains in hospital in a stable condition.

A relative of the 45-year-old woman said the attack came after she had battled breast cancer for several years.

“She is a very nice lady, very quiet,” he said. “She had breast cancer before and was going to the hospital all the time. We are all scared, we just don’t know what is going to happen to her.”

Jason Kakaire, 29, of Edmonton, is facing five charges of attempted murder and five of possessing an offensive weapon. He appeared in custody at Highbury Corner magistrates’ court on Friday and is due to appear at the Old Bailey on May 3.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT