09 June 2023 , 12:19
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The knifeman's ex-wife has spoken out in disbelief about yesterday's horror rampage in France which saw her former lover stabbing a three-year-old British girl.
Abdelmasih Hanoun went on a random attack at a usually bucolic lakeside park and left four children and one adult in critical condition.
Speaking to French media outlets in the aftermath of the attack, the knifeman’s ex-wife, whose name has been withheld, revealed he has a daughter the same age as the British victim.
Hanoun's unnamed former lover said: "My God. He is very nice. I don’t understand."
In complete shock that the father of their child could do such a thing, she went into detail about their previous life.
Bloodbath as four nursery children, aged 1 to 3, stabbed at random in play park
People seeing fleeing the scene of the horror (Alamy Live News.)She said he had been an attentive father who enjoyed looking after their daughter and had also previously studied to become a nurse.
She told CNews: "I don't know what happened to him, what you tell me is terrible."
She continued: "We met in Turkey, we fell in love and we came here [to Sweden]. We married after two years but he didn’t manage to obtain Swedish nationality so he decided to leave the country. We separated because I didn’t want to leave Sweden."
The 31-year-old Syrian attacker shouted "in the name of Jesus Christ" in English as he ran around the park with a four-inch knife.
Horrific footage of the attack shows a panicked mum inside the enclosed playground frantically pushing her pram without knowing what to do.
Hanoun then jumps over the playground fence and runs towards the mum before he repeatedly stabs the little one in the buggy.
A mum tried to defend her baby and push the knife-carrying attacker awayThe three-year-old British girl, who was on holiday, and a 22-month-old child, believed to be either Dutch or German, were stabbed along with a two-year-old boy and his three-year-old cousin from France.
A 78-year-old man was in a life-threatening condition after being stabbed six times and hit by a stray police bullet after officers opened fire on the knifeman, the Telegraph reported.
Hanoun was injured and arrested at the scene, as politicians from across the world condemned the bloodbath.
Local prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis told a press conference on Thursday afternoon the attacker's motives were unclear, but they did not appear to be related to terrorism.
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French prime minister Elisabeth Borne said the suspect had no criminal or psychiatric record and appeared to have acted alone.
Scene at the kid's playpark in Annecy France the following day after the attack (Humphrey Nemar)The public prosecutor of Annecy confirmed the suspect's custody had been extended on Friday morning.
Translated to English, a tweet said: "Stab attack in Annecy. The defendant's custody is extended. No other communication planned for this day in the state."
Tearful well-wishers have visited the playground where the children were stabbed.
Flowers and messages were laid at the scene, with messages including "Love Annecy", and "Children I don't know you but in this hour you are fighting".
A British mother of two, Katie Jackson, 39, was in tears as she said her son had asked to visit the park on the day of the attack.
A video of the knife attacker circulated on TwitterMs Jackson moved to the town three years ago with her husband. She has two sons, Rudy, five, and Vinnie, nine months.
She said: "Locally we call this the pirate playground because it has a pirate ship in it, it's a place that our kids know and love.
"It was my son's fifth birthday yesterday and he had mentioned he would be interested in going to the pirate place, but he was at school.
"It's a local treasure, that's why it's so shocking. I don't know anyone who hasn't visited the pirate playground."