Police were today hunting a knifeman who stabbed a pregnant woman in a car park outside a gym in broad-daylight.
Horrified onlookers found the unnamed 31-year-old victim slumped in the front seat of her blue Ford Fiesta clutching the blood-stained blade screaming: “I’m pregnant.”
Witnesses rushed to the woman’s aid after she was knifed in the car park of the Fitness First gym in Stirchley, Birmingham, at 2pm on Monday.
Witness Kadir Ali Mahmood, 31, who dialled 999, said he found the victim with a six-inch weapon in her hand.
He said: “I was right next to her and I asked, ‘what’s your name?’. She was crying and blood was coming out.
“She was saying ‘I’m pregnant, I got six weeks’.
“She was screaming and trying to ask for help.
“She had got the knife in her hand and she was saying she had been stabbed by it.
“She couldn’t talk properly, she was crying and asking for help.
“I don’t know where she was from.”
Forklift truck driver Kadir described the victim as white and said he did not recognise her as a regular gym-goer.
He said she was wearing street clothing rather than keep-fit gear.
Ashley Pinnock, 30, manager of adjoining 1st Bowl bowling alley, said he saw the injured woman lying down with a baby carrier by her side after the attack.
He said: “I can remember a noise like a row and the woman was shouting.
“I wish I could’ve done something.
“It really is terrible, it happened in daylight as well – I’m shocked.”
Witnesses reported seeing a silver Vauxhall Astra speeding away from the scene along the busy Pershore Road minutes after the attack.
West Midlands Police launched a manhunt for the attacker, who they believe is known to the woman, after the attack.
Officers were still searching for a suspect and issued a fresh appeal for witnesses.
Detective Inspector Justin Spanner, from Force CID, said: “This woman is lucky to be alive.
“We have spoken to a number of witnesses who were at the car park at the time but there are still a number of others we have yet to hear from.
“We’re particularly keen to speak to the driver of a blue Renault vehicle who was leaving the car park at the time of the attack and would have seen what happened.
“There was also a long queue of traffic along Pershore Road yesterday afternoon and someone sat in that traffic may have seen the suspect we are looking for.
“If you have any information, or if you saw anything suspicious in the area at the time, please contact us as soon as possible.”
