‘He was screaming “help, call an ambulance!” Horrified witnesses tell how driver collapsed outside cafe after being stabbed ‘inches from his heart’ by thief trying to steal his car near Kew Gardens in west London
- The man was attacked near Kew Gardens Underground station early on Sunday
- He was taken to hospital where he remains in a stable condition, Met Police said
- Gino Gashi told of how the man collapsed outside the cafe he works at
- He said that the man was stabbed ‘inches from his heart’ and is ‘lucky to be alive’
- Mr Gashi and other cafe workers stemmed the blood with bandages
- Police have cordoned off the area as forensic investigators examine the scene
- Did you see what happened? Get in touch – tim.stickings@mailonline.co.uk
A shocked cafe worker has told how he helped save the life of a customer after he was stabbed ‘inches from his heart’ in West London this morning.
The man collapsed on the pavement outside the cafe after being stabbed in upmarket suburb Kew Gardens around 8am and screamed “help – call an ambulance”, witnesses said.
The victim, in his 50s, man was stabbed with an ‘enormous knife’ near Kew Gardens underground station in what locals described as an attempted car theft.
A police officer in forensic gear inspects the site where man was stabbed near the entrance to Kew Gardens in west London on Sunday morning
The man was taken to hospital where he remains in a stable condition after the stabbing, police said.
Gino Gashi who works at Cafe Torelli, said the man, who is a regular at the cafe called Eric, staggered to the cafe after being stabbed and collapsed on the pavement outside it.
Mr Torrelli said: ‘I was shocked to be honest – I haven’t seen anything like this before. Seeing someone who has been stabbed is shocking.
‘He was stabbed inches from his heart. It was a deep wound. He was screaming help – call an ambulance.’
Mr Torrelli explained he and other café workers helped stem the blood from the man’s wounds as he lay on the pavement and called 999.
‘We were trying to help him. We got bandages and stemmed the blood. It was very terrible – he is lucky to be alive, Mr Gashi said.
Gino thinks Eric was stabbed in an attempted carjacking.
‘I think they were trying to take his car.
‘We saw the car door open.’
Witnesses said the man was attacked on the way to his car after buying a coffee, leaving the street covered in blood.
One shop owner said: ‘The chap had bought a coffee and he walked around the corner, then someone heard screaming and he came stumbling back just past our shop and into the coffee shop.
‘The police lifted a car and took a car away.
‘It doesn’t seem obvious for something like this to happen at eight in the morning in Kew Gardens. It just looks like an opportunist who has gone for the car. ‘
Another witness said ‘it looked like they were trying to steal his car’.
A local resident called Melanie told My London that there was a ‘kitchen knife in the middle of the road and blood’.
Yet another witness said: ‘Horrific stabbing this morning outside Torellis [coffee shop] – thoughts with the victim.
![A forensic investigator inside a cordon near Kew Gardens Underground station today after a man in his 50s was stabbed this morning](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/01/20/13/8758324-6612373-image-a-45_1547989440011.jpg)
A forensic investigator inside a cordon near Kew Gardens Underground station today after a man in his 50s was stabbed this morning
‘Enormous knife. Not what you expect in Kew on a sleepy Sunday morning. Stay safe all.
‘It was outside my flat and I was just leaving the house when they’d just taken the victim away. I’d been eating breakfast in my lounge window area overlooking the scene minutes before it happened and then came out to go out shortly after.
‘It’s really shaken me up as I felt safe in Kew.’
Another witness said on Twitter: ‘Drove past, it looks very serious indeed! Our thoughts go out to the victim and their family.’
Police have cordoned off the scene on the corner of the street as forensic investigators gather evidence.
The cordon is in place just five minutes’ walk from the gates of the world-famous botanical gardens.
A Met Police spokesman said: ‘Police were called to Royal Parade, Kew at 0754hrs to reports of a male having been stabbed.
‘He is being treated in hospital for injuries not thought to be life threatening. No arrests made and enquiries continue.
The investigation is being conducted by Richmond CID.
![The man was stabbed in Kew this morning, close to the botanic gardens (pictured) and the Underground station](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/01/20/14/8759664-6612373-image-m-51_1547992847521.jpg)
The man was stabbed in Kew this morning, close to the botanic gardens (pictured) and the Underground station