The husband of a grandmother stabbed to death by a mentally ill knifeman at a bus stop has said her death has ‘left a silence that nothing can fill’ as her killer was detained indefinitely.
Jala Debella, 24, attacked medical secretary Anita Mukhey, 66, in front of shocked passers-by in north London at about 11.50am on May 9 2024.
He stabbed her 18 times before he ‘casually’ walked away while people rushed to help the victim.
Ms Mukhey’s husband Hari criticised the NHS handling of Debella, who was not considered to pose a risk to the community.
He said: ‘Anita was the centre of our home. She was an organiser, a steady presence. She held everyone together without asking for recognition.
‘Her absence has left a silence that nothing can fill. As her husband I live with that absence every day.
‘The man was known to mental health services. He was assessed by psychiatrists and was deemed stable to be managed in the community.
‘It leaves me wondering how risk is truly assessed.
‘Words spoken in an assessment room did not reflect the reality of his true intentions.’
At a hearing at the Old Bailey on Friday, Debella was sentenced to a hospital order under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act and a restriction order under Section 41 – meaning he can be detained indefinitely.
Addressing his remarks to an empty dock as Debella was not in court, Judge Philip Katz KC said: ‘Anita Mukhey was the heart of the family. She was a wife, mother and grandmother, aged 66 when she was stabbed to death by a complete stranger on a busy main road in north London.’
During a trial of issue, held after the defendant was deemed too unwell to stand trial for murder, the court heard Debella was obsessed with gory online videos and had been able to buy a hunting knife over 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, around an hour before he used it to stab Ms Mukhey to death, an act which mirrored violence he had watched.
Jala Debella, 24, attacked medical secretary Anita Mukhey, 66, in front of shocked passers-by in north Londonat about 11.50am on May 9 2024
Anita Mukhey was stabbed 18 times before Debella ‘casually’ walked away while people rushed to help the victim
Mr Mukhey thanked ‘brave members of the public’ who went to his wife’s aide, but said the trial had forced him to confront ‘deeply troubling’ facts about the psychological assessments of her killer.
In a statement issued after the jury found Debella committed the act of killing Ms Mukhey, her family said: ‘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.’
They questioned why he was able to purchase weapons online while living in a staffed and Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered mental health rehabilitation home.
Jonathan Polnay KC, prosecuting, said an inquest into Ms Mukhey’s death had been opened and adjourned.
Jalal Debella on CCTV running away after the vicious attack
Debella had viewed sickening footage of beheadings in the days leading up to the random killing
The killer had bought a 7.5″ hunting knife with sheaf from knifewarehouse.co.uk which was delivered just over an hour before the killing
Judge Katz said he did not express an opinion on the ‘safety of the regime’ at the residential home but added: ‘No doubt others will consider it, hopefully soon.’
Before the attack, Debella also searched on his computer for ‘killing video’ and visited a website containing graphic violent content, jurors heard.
CCTV picked up the defendant walking north in Edgware Road, past a bus stop, and then returning to the scene where Ms Mukhey was attacked in Burnt Oak Broadway.
Thirty seconds later, she could be seen collapsing in the road with the first 999 call being made at 11.48am.
A knife, identical to the one Debella had bought online, was later recovered by police and forensic analysis showed it had DNA from Debella and Ms Mukhey on it, the court was told.
Dr Melanie Higgins, Debella’s medical consultant, confirmed he had been detained under the Mental Health Act on at least three occasions before he attacked Ms Mukhey.
She said he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and arrangements had been made for his continued admission at Ashworth High Secure Hospital in Merseyside.
Chris Badger, chief inspector of adult social care for the CQC, said: ‘We extend our condolences to the family of Ms Mukhey.
‘Where care is being provided that falls into what are known as ‘regulated activities’, CQC regulates that provider.
‘While this organisation has registered with CQC, having engaged with the police and with the care home at the time of this appalling incident, the services being provided at the time did not fall into CQC’s scope of regulation and their registration was made dormant.
‘As the services provided did not come under CQC’s regulatory powers, we would not be able to formally pursue this matter or comment on the details of this tragic case.’