Cannabis smoking asylum seeker, 24, who nearly beheaded his girlfriend, 19, when he cut her throat at her uni halls after believing she had 'turned into a devil' is locked up indefinitely

Sabita Thanwani was knifed in the neck by Tunisian-born Maher MaaroufeAttack happened in victim's University of London accommodation in ClerkenwellHe was sentenced at the Old Bailey to Broadmoor maximum security hospital  

An asylum seeker who nearly beheaded his girlfriend as he stabbed the student to death in her halls of residence has been locked up indefinitely.

Aspiring psychologist Sabita Thanwani was stabbed in the neck with a knife by Maher Maaroufe at around 5am on March 19, 2022, with the wound inflicted almost decapitating her.

The killer, who is a regular cannabis smoker, claims the 19-year-old victim ‘turned into the devil’ in front of his eyes, leading him to attack her in the University of London accommodation in Clerkenwell.

The 24-year-old admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility because he was suffering from schizoaffective disorder. He also pleaded guilty to a charge of assault by beating an emergency worker.

Judge Nigel Lickley KC sentenced the Tunsian-born man at the Old Bailey to Broadmoor maximum security hospital indefinitely under sections 37 and 41 of the Mental Health Act, 1983.

Maher Maaroufe admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility because he was suffering from schizoaffective disorder

Aspiring psychologist Sabita Thanwani was stabbed in the neck with a knife by Mr Maaroufe at around 5am on March 19, 2022, with the wound inflicted almost decapitating her

He said Maaroufe had been ‘aggressive’ and ‘controlling’ towards Ms Thanwani during their relationship and hit her at least once, adding that this behaviour may have been part of his ’emerging illness’.

Judge Lickley added: ‘Sabita has a very promising and successful future ahead of her.

‘She had a bubbly, friendly and happy personality the evidence showed her to be a young woman enjoying her life in London.

‘Sabita had her whole life ahead of her, you ended her life, the suffering you caused will endure and you are responsible for the loss caused to many people.’

Ms Thanwani’s family described Mr Maaroufe as ‘evil predator’ and a ‘monster’, after he left Ms Thanwani with 18 cuts to her face, neck and chest area.

The evening of the attack, Ms Thanwani met the defendant wearing a balaclava outside a mosque and they spent time in Edgware Road and Oxford Street.

After they had returned to Ms Thanwani’s accommodation, other students heard her shouting ‘stop’, ‘I can’t breathe’ and ‘I beg you, don’t kill me’ in the early hours of the morning.

Maaroufe tried to get into another room before leaving the building in Sebastian Street. He was found by police asleep under a tarpaulin in a garden shed and headbutted an officer while being arrested, the court heard.

Judge Lickley said Maaroufe carried out the attack during the ‘height’ of a psychotic episode.

Dr Christian Brown, the consultant psychiatrist who has been treating Maaroufe at Broadmoor maximum security hospital, says the defendant describes killing a ‘male figure’ and claims he sensed something was wrong as some as the act was commited.

Dr Brown said: ‘By his accounts, he believed that Sabita turned in front of his eyes into a devil, a male one at that, he describes killing a male figure.

‘He sensed that he had done something wrong, which by his accounts appears to have come to him in the minutes or hours after the offence.

‘Despite having been charged with her murder, I do not know if he knew what he had done at the time.

‘The level of violence here is very extreme and his behaviour afterwards, wearing women’s clothes, going away, hiding, headbutting a police officer, the basis of it is the psychotic illness.’

The court heard that Maaroufe entered the UK legally on an unknown date but had overstayed and was in the process of claiming asylum at the time of the attack.

The court heard how Ms Thanwani had complained that Maaroufe was ‘possessive and controlling’, even waiting outside nightclubs she was in to escort her home

He was unemployed, smoked cannabis and ‘regularly got into fights’, prosecutor Louis Mably KC said.

The court heard how Ms Thanwani had complained that Maaroufe was ‘possessive and controlling’, even waiting outside nightclubs she was in to escort her home.

The court earlier heard three victim statements, from Miss Thanwani’s mother Rheea, her father Manoj and her brother Raveen.

Miss Thanwani’s mother Rheea said: ‘Nobody should ever have to feel like how I felt when the police called me to tell me my daughter had been murdered, brutally murdered.

‘He murdered the life she would have had and he murdered the help she wanted to give to the world.

‘He killed us all, the whole family.

‘Time, dreams, hopes, aspirations are all gone but memories are gone too, because I cannot bare to remember.

‘It brings me to my knees and I cannot stand up again.

‘Doors that were always open in our house are now always closed.

‘Food and family meals that were so much fun are dreaded now because Sabita is no longer with us and she never will be again.’