Blog

A man who stabbed his grandmother to death more than 20 times will be locked up in a hospital indefinitely.

Bibi Somtera was murdered by 34-year-old Subell Ali at the family’s Manor Park home on April 2, 2022.

Police were called at 9:56 p.m. to the property on Landseer Avenue and upon arrival found the 80-year-old grandmother dead, suffering from dementia.

The attack came just two days after Ali, who has a serious mental illness, was released from a mental hospital.

Jurors were told that Ali was unfit to stand trial as a result of his mental illness, so they would only decide the facts of the case.

Yesterday (March 30), Judge Philip Katz KC ordered Ali to be detained at the Three Bridges Medium Security Unit.

For the latest crime news in East London, join our East London Crime Watch group on Facebook.

On the morning of the attack, jury were told that Ali’s mother, Fatima Khatun, heard a “terrible scream”. When she went downstairs, she found Somtera in the living room.

Jurors were told that Ali then left a large, blood-smeared knife in the kitchen before leaving the house.

Police found him at a bus stop on Dersingham Avenue about ten minutes later, his sleeves covered in his grandmother’s blood.

Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC told jury that after Ali was allowed to return from hospital on March 31, he was concerned about someone he called Shahin Jahan.

Emlyn Jones said that one of the symptoms of Ali’s mental illness was that she was hearing voices and seemed to be acting under the belief that Shahin Jahan was giving her orders.

After the police arrived at the scene, the defendant’s mother said that he had told her that Shahin Jahan “asked him to go and kill her quickly”.

While at the Forest Gate Police Station, the defendant told police: “Someone told me to do this. Why would I do that to my own grandmother?

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Whellams said: “Our thoughts today are with Somtera’s family and friends, who they lost in such dire circumstances.

“I would like to thank my team for their hard work and diligence in what has been a complex and harrowing investigation.”

Some PA reports.