A man diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, who fatally stabbed a woman at a bus stop, has been held indefinitely.

Jala Debella, 24, assaulted Anita Mukhey, 66, in broad daylight in north London in May 2024, inflicting 18 stab wounds before walking away nonchalantly while bystanders rushed to assist the injured woman.

As Debella was deemed too ill to face trial, Judge Philip Katz KC spoke to the empty dock, referring to Mukhey as “the heart of the family.”

At the Old Bailey, Debella received a hospital order under the Mental Health Act, accompanied by a restriction order which allows for his indefinite detention.

The judge remarked: “She was a wife, mother, and grandmother, brutally murdered by a total stranger on a crowded main road in north London.”

The court had previously heard that Debella was fixated on graphic online content and had managed to purchase a hunting knife over the internet, even while residing in a mental health rehabilitation facility.

The weapon was delivered to his home in Colindale, north London, about an hour prior to the fatal assault on Mukhey, emulating the violence he had viewed online.

Mukhey’s husband, Hari, expressed that the grandmother of two was the “cornerstone of our household.”

“Her absence has created a void that cannot be filled,” he stated.

He expressed gratitude to the “courageous citizens” who rushed to help his wife, but indicated that the trial forced him to confront “deeply unsettling” truths about the psychological evaluations of her attacker.

Following the jury’s conclusion that Debella had killed Mukhey, her family issued a statement noting: “The court acknowledged that a man suffering from severe mental health issues was recognized by services and assessed by psychiatric specialists as mentally stable and safe for society.”

“Simultaneously, he was engaging in increasingly concerning behaviors outside of those evaluations, such as acquiring weapons and researching extreme violence—actions that ultimately reflected in the brutal act he committed.”

“This disparity is difficult to cope with. It prompts serious questions regarding how risk is assessed and whether existing models can effectively identify threats that evolve beyond what is communicated in a clinical setting.”

The Mukhey family also raised concerns about how Debella was able to buy weapons online while living in a monitored and accredited mental health rehabilitation facility.

An inquest into Mukhey’s death has been initiated but is currently suspended.

Judge Katz stated that he was not providing an opinion on the “safety of the facility” at the residential home, but noted, “Others will undoubtedly examine it, hopefully in the near future.”

Debella’s medical consultant confirmed that he had been detained under the Mental Health Act on at least three prior occasions before the stabbing incident.

Debella will remain at Ashworth High Secure Hospital in Merseyside.