A mother who was viciously stabbed by her boyfriend while she was heavily pregnant has described the attack in horrifying detail.
Natalie Queiroz was ambushed and stabbed by partner Babur Karamat Raja as she walked down an alleyway in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, in March last year.
She was sliced 24 times in her chest, stomach and wrists before Raja was arrested by passing police officers who were flagged down by bystanders.
Speaking on This Morning, Natalie relived the horrific incident and revealed how she did not recognise her partner until several minutes into the assault.
Horrifying: Natalie Queiroz, pictured on This Morning was stabbed by partner Babur Karamat Raja, left, as she walked down an alleyway in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, in March 2016
It was also revealed how the knife had missed her unborn baby by just 2cm.
Natalie said: ‘It was 3pm in the afternoon. It was raining hard and the bump was getting wet. I thought “what’s the worst that could happen?”
‘I was in the alleyway and I heard footsteps almost running behind me. He grabbed me, jumped me and I first thought I was being mugged.
‘I was stumbling …and he held out a carving knife in his right hand. Without having time to process it he was stabbing me.
Speaking on This Morning, Natalie relived the horrific incident, describing how she did not recognise her boyfriend until minutes into the attack
‘All you are thinking about is survival. I think I did have pain but you are looking down and my coat is open and I’m bleeding and all I can think is that I have to get out of here.’
Disguise: Babur Raja was caught on CCTV with a knife in his back pocket shortly before trying to kill his pregnant partner
Two strangers stepped who heard Natalie’s screams stepped in and wrestled Raja off his terrified girlfriend. However he broke free and went back to continue the attack.
It was then that she realised it was the father of her baby.
Natalie continued: ‘He stabbed me about 15-20 times in that first section… I somehow got to my feet, stumbled down the hill. It was at that second time he stabbed me again that I realised that it was him.
‘At first I was excited I thought: “It’s Bobby, it’s going to be alright, how does he know I’m here?”‘
He did not say a word as she begged him for her life.
Raja was eventually arrested when one bystander flagged down a passing police patrol car. Birmingham Crown Court later heard that Raja had been forced to choose between his conservative Muslim mother and the ‘love of his life’ Ms Queiroz.
Natalie said she did not understand his reasoning – and did not accept his apology when she visited him in prison.
She said: ‘I looked at him in prison, face to face, and I said to him “you got to that point in pressure, but you could have left, you could have runaway, worst case scenario you could have killed yourself but why kill me?
Natalie was attacked as she walked past the car park of Trinity Hill Baptist Church, pictured
‘He said to me lots of times sorry, he wrote to me to say sorry but I just don’t believe him, I don’t know if I ever will.’
After the attack Natalie was airlifted to hospital and put into a coma. Medics battled for half an hour before trying to deliver the baby, who they feared had already died.
Despite her dreadful injuries, she managed to survive and so did her baby girl.