Sheffield residents’ shock over woman’s knife death
Murder scene: Part of Blackstock Road in Gleadless Valley, Sheffield, is cordoned off by police after a woman was stabbed to death. PICTURES: STEVE PARKIN
STUNNED residents spoke of their shock after a woman was murdered in the middle of a Sheffield street – in the shadow of a church.
Pub landlord Steve Shephard said he will have ‘nightmares’ after witnessing the terrifying lunchtime stabbing.
“I’ve seen a lot of things in my life, but never anything like that,” he said.
“He stabbed and stabbed and stabbed her – and then walked off really calmly.”
Sarah, Steve’s wife, aged 39, said: “The man who did it didn’t bat an eyelid.
“Everyone is gutted something like this could happen so close to home.”
Steve, 46, landlord of the John O’Gaunt pub, said he had seen an argument between the victim and her attacker moments before the fatal stabbing near Gleadless Valley Methodist Church.
He said he heard shouting and saw the pair rowing in the middle of Blackstock Road – then watched in horror as the man stabbed his victim in the back and repeatedly in the chest.
Steve said the attacker had initially been accompanied by another woman pushing a pram.
He said he walked up to his victim and they became embroiled in an argument, before he stabbed her.
“Everybody’s in shock,” he said. “They say it’s rough around here, but it’s not like that. I will be having nightmares.”
Steve said he first thought the woman had been punched, until he saw the man had a knife which he was plunging repeatedly into her body.
“I was standing at the pub window when I saw them arguing,” he said. “I thought he’d punched her, but then I saw the knife.
“He just didn’t stop, even when everyone was shouting and screaming at him.”
Terri Brady, 23, said: “Just a few minutes before I had been standing with my six-year-old son and two-year-old daughter at the spot where the woman was stabbed. I am so shocked.”
Manepha Nkomo, 30, who moved to Gleadless Valley only two months ago, said: “I don’t feel safe, knowing something like this can happen. It makes me nervous and worried about where I have moved to.”
A South Yorkshire Police spokeswoman confirmed: “At about 11.55am yesterday, police received reports a woman had been attacked on Blackstock Road.
“The woman, in her 40s, sustained stab wounds and died.
“A 44-year-old man, thought to be known to the woman, has been arrested.”
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Weather for Sheffield
Wednesday 19 June 2013
Today
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Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
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