Spurned lover jailed for brutal stabbing

A spurned lover who repeatedly stabbed a mother-of-two a month after he was bailed following a previous assault on her was jailed for eight years today.

Jacob Samba, 32, attacked Stephanie Hunter in May while she was babysitting her neighbour's 10-month-old child in Southall, west London.

After stabbing her with a five-inch kitchen knife and a two-pronged meat fork he tried to make her have sex with him.

He then threatened to return and kill her and her two children if she went to the police, the Old Bailey heard.

Samba had been banned from seeing her or going to her address as a condition of bail following an earlier allegation of common assault.

He was jailed today after pleading guilty to wounding with intent earlier this month and faces deportation to his home country Kenya on his release.

Miss Hunter, 24, survived the stabbing after she was airlifted to the Royal London Hospital, where she was treated for three wounds to her chest, one to her back and one to her abdomen.

She was said to have been "massively affected" by what happened, scared for her safety and that of her children, and suffering flashbacks.

Samba, an illegal overstayer, had come to Britain to join the Army in 2006 but health checks showed he was unfit to do so because of a heart condition, the court heard.

He remained in the country and met Miss Hunter, moving in with her and her two young children.

When the relationship broke up and she threw him out he could not come to terms with it and in April he attacked her by grabbing her arms and pushing her over.

He was arrested over an allegation of common assault on condition that he should not have any contact with her or visit her address.

But a month later he followed her home, claiming he wanted some of his property back, and forced his way in.

When she asked him to leave and said she would call the police, he grabbed her hair by the pony tail and began stabbing her using a kitchen knife with a five-inch blade. After that broke he continued the attack using a meat fork.

Sentencing Samba today, Judge Peter Rook said: "This was a brutal attack."

He added: "She thought she was going to die and was terrified. She was thinking constantly about the welfare of her own children, who happily were not there, and also the neighbour's baby, who was there.

"You told her you would only put down the meat fork if she had sex with you. She refused. You told her that if she told the police you would come back and kill her and the children."

Andrew Hill, defending, said: "He was unable to come to terms with the separation. He was living rough on the streets."