Friends and neighbours have paid tributes to a mother of two stabbed to death in her Forest Gate flat on Friday morning.
Amina Bibi, 43, was discovered in her ground floor flat at George Carver House in Station Road by her 11-year-old son and a neighbour who called the emergency services. Ms Bibi, who lived at the flat with her husband and two sons, was pronounced dead at the scene.
A post mortem, held at East Ham mortuary on Saturday, gave the cause of death as multiple stab wounds.
Jamal Omar, 39, who lived next door, said her eldest son returned to the flat from nearby Forest Gate Community School on Friday morning to pick up a folder. Jamal said: “He rang the door bell but his mum did not open it so he went to the window and that’s when he saw his mum on the floor and she was trying to say “help me, help me”.”
He then rang Jamal’s door bell, who let him into the block. The boy went to his flat but came back to Jamal’s flat, banging on the door, saying “Help my mum, help my mum, I don’t know what’s wrong with her.”
When Jamal went to their flat, he saw Amina lying face down in a pool of blood. Although he called for an ambulance, Jamal said he could see Amina was dead. He said: “There was so much blood and I didn’t know where it was coming from, but she was face down.
“It is very much a shock. She was a lovely woman, very caring and you never had a complaint from any of the neighbours. She was very friendly.
“All the neighbours liked her because she was so caring.”
Other residents expressed their shock at the events which resulted in closure of the street for several days. One man said Amina was dedicated to her children and took them to the mosque regularly.
Detective Chief Inspector David Whellams, who is leading the murder investigation, said: “I believe we are looking for a lone suspect, a man who made off from the scene on foot along Forest Street in the direction of Field Road.
“It is likely that this man would have been bloodstained and was possibly carrying some clothing.”
“At around 8.30am on Friday morning the area would have been busy with lots of students arriving at Forest Gate community school at that time.”
Police are officers are keeping an open mind as to a motive.
Anyone with information that may assist the investigation should call the incident room at Barking on 020 8345 3775. To remain anonymous call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
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