By Amy Walker

Copyright manchestereveningnews

A man stabbed his sister-in-law as she lay in bed under the belief she was ‘possessed by an evil spirit’. Abdullahi Tijani (previously recorded as Abdullahi Tuani) attacked the woman in the early hours of the morning on October 24 last year. She was left with stab wounds to her arms and legs. After being arrested he told psychiatrists that he believed she was ‘possessed’ by an ‘evil spirit’ and that she intended to hurt his brother using ‘black magic’. Tijani, 26, had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and is receiving treatment within Stockton Hall hospital. He was initially charged with attempted murder, but after pleading guilty to a lesser offence of wounding with intent on the first day of his trial earlier this week, he was handed an indefinite hospital order. Sign up to the MEN Court newsletter here Chloe Fordham, prosecuting, said Tijani was staying at the house on Tintern Avenue in Tyldesley, Wigan , along with his brother, his brother’s wife and two others. Police received a call from one of the other people living at the house at 5am to reports of a disturbance, and found Tijani’s sister-in-law sitting on the top of the stairs holding herself and crying. “She had four stab wounds to her right arm and two to the left side of her upper back. She told officers: ‘I was asleep and he just came and stabbed me’,” Ms Fordham said. “The defendant was sitting downstairs on the back of the sofa wearing blood stained clothing.” Tijani was arrested and a kitchen knife with a seven-inch blade was recovered from upstairs. The blade had been snapped from the handle, Manchester Crown Court heard. The woman told the police she had got home from work to find the bathroom was very messy and had asked Tijani to clean up. She then went to bed and was awoken by him coming into her room the following morning. “She asked him what he wanted and he approached her and stabbed her. She received multiple lacerations which were repaired with surgery,” Ms Fordham added. The woman was able to roll over during the attack, which led to the injuries on her back, it was said. Tijani was assessed by a number of psychiatrists who found he was suffering from a mental illness at the time, during which he reported hearing auditory hallucinations. His accounts varied but he was found to hold the ‘delusional’ belief of his sister-in-law’s ‘possession’. He was having intervention by mental health services at the time and was in receipt of medication, but was not said to be taking it accordingly. The court heard that Tijani continues to have the belief that he is ‘some form of religious deity’ and is now receiving antipsychotic medication. Robert Wyn Jones, defending, said that his client had moved to the UK from Nigeria and was studying for a master’s degree in chemistry at the University of Hull. He said he had no mental health issues prior to moving, and had hoped to provide a better life for himself and his family back in Nigeria. Sentencing, Judge Timothy Smith said he was satisfied that Tijani was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia which had resulted in him having ‘grandiose illusions’. “She [the victim] knew you did not know what it was you were doing. You were unwell. She believed what happened to her was a result of you not being well,” he said. Tijani, of Abbey Road, Tyldesley, was handed a section 37 hospital order with a section 41 restriction order under the Mental Health Act, meaning he cannot be discharged from hospital until deemed safe to himself and the public. Join our Court and Crime WhatsApp group HERE Speaking after the hearing Detective Constable James Cupitt, from GMP’s Criminal Investigation Team in Wigan, said: “In October 2024, our officers responded to reports of a man attacking a woman with a knife, causing three significant wounds on her arm and back. “Thankfully, the victim was able to receive urgent treatment for her wounds and begin her journey back to full health after this traumatic incident. “This was a shocking attack that happened in the victim’s home, and it is our hope the result of today’s sentence will bring her a sense of closure, knowing the perpetrator is receiving the treatment he needs and is able to return to society in time.”