A FATHER who stabbed his ex repeatedly in a row over custody of their daughter wept as he told jurors he is ‘really sorry’.
Mohammed Bilal said it was never his intention to kill Shameen Iqbal at her house in Darnall last year.
Bilal, aged 28, who is standing trial at Sheffield Crown Court for attempted murder, entered Miss Iqbal’s house on October 3 last year and stabbed her with a knife in the neck, chest and abdomen.
She was rushed to the Northern General Hospital for life-saving surgery, while Bilal fled to France - before returning four days later.
He told the court he had gone to the house to discuss access rights to their four-year-old daughter.
He said earlier that day he had been working on renovating a house in Rawmarsh Hill, Rotherham, which had involved using a knife to cut carpets. He said he then left for Fulford Place, Darnall, without realising he still had the knife in his pocket.
Bilal said when he arrived the house was empty, and he turned security cameras away from him because he had previously been caught on video breaching a restraining order at the property.
He said he then entered the house when Miss Iqbal returned, and asked why she was denying him access to their daughter.
He told jurors that, as an argument broke out, she kicked him in the groin and the leg, slapped him twice, and tried to push him away while shouting at him.
“I lost my temper,” said Bilal. “I took the knife out of my pocket and used it on her.
“My intention was not to kill her. What I did was wrong and I’m remorseful and really sorry for what I did, but I did not intend to kill her,” said the tearful defendant.
He added: “I stopped when I saw what I had done. I was shocked. It was absolutely horrendous.”
He told the court that, in ‘panic’, he walked out of the house and started arranging to leave the country for Paris. “I just wanted to run away,” he said.
Bilal, of Bawtry Road, Tinsley, admits wounding with intent, possessing an offensive weapon, and three breaches of a restraining order but denies attempted murder.
The trial continues.
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