Mother with baby strapped to her used cafe chair to fend off knife thugs

Brave: The woman (pictured) stepped in to stop a stabbing
BBC London

Two mothers, included one with a baby strapped to her, have been hailed as heroes after intervening when thugs were about to stab a teenager in a busy shopping street.

The niece and her aunt took action when two youths with “huge” knives chased two other boys through New Cross in south London.

The aunt picked up a cafe chair and lunged at one of the knifemen “with all her strength”, kncoking him off balance as he was about to attack one of the boys.

Witnesses today praised the two women, saying they had “saved the boy’s life”.

The aftermath was captured by BBC London, who filmed the women telling police what had happened.

The niece, still carrying her baby, told officers: “I started shouting and the next thing I saw was my auntie, who’d got one of the cafe chairs. She was trying to stop them.”

Her aunt added: “We just saw it like ‘this is going to be a bloodshed if we don’t get tough’. They had two massive knives.

“We just tried to prevent somebody from ending up in the hospital or in the mortuary. And as a mother I didn’t think about anything else, I just thought that this needed to be stopped.”

Lena Gayle, who witnessed the chase from the window of a passing bus, said the women “saved the boy’s life, no question.”

She told the Standard: “One of the two attackers was carrying the biggest knife I have ever seen, it was huge. I told the driver to pull over and started screaming for people to help.

“One of the boys being chased tripped and over. He looked like he was done for, doubled up on the floor. They were going to kill him.

“But this woman stepped in and grabbed a café chair and hit the boy with the knife as hard as she could. The guy stopped in his tracks and ran off.”

Police raced to the scene in New Cross Road after being alerted by members of the public at about 11.15am yesterday.

When officers arrived, the alleged attackers and their victims had fled, police said.

The women were today praised online by members of the public.

Natalia Cruz Fajardo wrote: “Oh my days, these ladies have more balls than all those officers with their blue lights. And got stuff under control and got the baby to sleep! Girl power.”

Lewisham police officers tweeted: “The great #Lewisham #community saying #StopKnifeCrime. #Thanks.”

It came as London Mayor Sadiq Khan yesterday joined 150 Londoners, including victims’ families, campaigners, teachers and police officers, at a summit aimed to formulate a “tough new approach” to tackling the capital’s knife crime epidemic.

A Met Police spokesman said: “We were called at 11.15am yesterday to New Cross Road to reports of an attempted stabbing on a teenager.

“All those involved had left the scene prior to police arrival.”

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