Woman who tried to kill her housemate in Wigan given life sentence

A woman who attempted to kill her housemate in a “frenzied and calculated” attack has been given a life sentence.
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Awa Zongo, 29, attacked Asam Panahandeh at her Wigan home just days before she was due to be deported from the country after being refused asylum.

Manchester Crown Court heard that Zongo had unleashed a flurry of knife blows at Ms Panahandeh and threw a pan of boiling water over her, in a desperate bid to stay in the country.

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Jailing Zongo for 10 years and six months, where she will have to serve at least seven years, Judge Patrick Field, QC, described her as a “dangerous” woman.

Awa ZongoAwa Zongo
Awa Zongo

The court heard that Zongo had come into the UK from Burkina Faso last year and after spending time in immigration detention, was initially provided with rental accommodation by the National Asylum Support Service.

However, after being refused asylum and exhausting all her appeal options, she was due to be deported just days after the attack on the morning of December 14 at the accommodation she shared with Ms Panahandeh and a number of other people on Atherton Road, Hindley.

Joe Boyd, prosecuting, said on the morning of the attack, Ms Panahandeh had been sitting on the toilet in the bathroom they shared, when Zongo entered with a pan of boiling water which she then threw over her head.

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Mr Boyd said: “The defendant then grabbed her by the hair and sat her on the floor holding the pan in her hand and striking it over her head.

“She was holding her hair over her head with the other hand and the victim had begged her to stop.

“Somehow the victim managed to somehow get up and escape down the corridor towards the back door.”

However he said that Zongo then came from behind and grabbed her hair and threw her onto the floor, before using a knife she had got from the kitchen to “stab the defendant everywhere” while she was curled up on the floor.

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The court then heard that after Zongo’s knife had broke, she fetched another one to continue the attack, but only after realising that her victim was not dead. Her final blow embedded the knife in the terrified victim’s neck and missed lethally severing a main artery by only millimetres, in what the court heard was a “miracle”.

Then Zongo escaped from the court yard and onto the main road. Police and paramedics arrived at the scene between 10.20am and 10.40am and a neighbour saw the defendant place herself on the floor before the ambulance arrived, while a passer-by saw Ms Panahandeh covered in blood and a hilt of a knife coming from her neck.

The court heard that Zongo and Ms Panahandeh had been on “good terms” leading up to the attack which was described as “unprovoked.”

In total, the court heard that Zongo had stabbed Ms Panahandeh 30 times and left her with stab wounds in areas including her chest, abdomen, buttocks, arms and legs. And amongst other significant injuries, the victim was also left with burns covering 15 percent of her body surface area that have left her needing grafts and with permanent physical scars as well as psychological.

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A victim impact statement read out to the court, Ms Panahandeh said she has been left suffering pain 24 hours a day and is in receipt of painkillers and calming medication. In her statement, she said her social life had also been significantly affected, that she struggles with depression and has lost all confidence, while she’s not been able to continue a university degree in psychology.

Steven Swift, defending, said Zongo’s life had been blighted by “physical and sexual abuse” and that she had mental health problems.

Mr Swift said: “She lived with social and economic deprivation and a transient lifestyle where she had periods living in different countries.

“It would appear that prior to living in the UK, the defendant has lived in a culture where violence and sexual exploitation for her became the norm.”

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He added that the defendant’s asylum appeal being refused combined with her fragile mental health could have been “something of a trigger” to cause the defendant to act in the way she did.

While acknowledging reports that suggested Zongo suffered from PTSD, Judge Patrick Field, QC, said it did not cause her to do what she did.

Sentencing her, he said: “This was a frenzied and calculated attack.

“In her interview with police officers recorded in hospital, Ms Panahandeh said that when Zongo attacked her she said “I’m not going back, don’t want to go back”, so in the absence of any other explanation this would appear to be the reason for her attack.

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“Taking everything into account, I’m satisfied that this is sufficiently serious to justify imprisonment for life.”

Detective Constable Danny Ritchie of GMP’s Wigan Division, said the victim in this barbarous attack is “incredibly lucky to be alive”.

He said: “Thankfully, the serious wound that she sustained wasn’t fatal and I hope that she can feel a sense of closure after today’s verdict.

“My thoughts are with the victim as she continues to physically and mentally recover from this truly terrifying ordeal which has deeply affected her.

“Although she will never be able to forget what happened, we hope the fact that her attacker faces a spell behind bars will provide her with some comfort and enable her to move on with her life.”