A “hero” security guard who tackled a knife-wielding man and freed the young Australian girl he had been stabbing in a London shop has been honoured for his bravery.

The 11-year-old victim, from NSW, was wounded multiple times while visiting the famous TWG Tea store in the tourist hot spot of Leicester Square on Monday morning.

She was taken to hospital and received plastic surgery for what the Metropolitan Police said were non-life-threatening injuries. She has since been discharged.

A 32-year-old man, Ioan Pintaru, appeared in court on Tuesday charged with attempted murder. He is yet to enter a plea.

The security guard, named Abdullah, who was working at the shop and helped disarm the alleged attacker, was recognised for his bravery as part of Independence Day celebrations at the Pakistan High Commission in London on Wednesday.

Abdullah, 29, made a speech at the event and was treated as a guest of honour. He told the ABC he was acting on instinct.

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“I would say that I’m a brave person. We Pakistanis are brave by heart as. So I wasn’t scared,” he said.

The security guard said he first “heard a scream” in the shop about 11:30am.

“I started running towards the guy. I jumped on the guy and held his hand, which was carrying the knife,” Abdullah said.

“I tackled him down on the floor and then kicked the knife away from him. And there were a couple of guys who came for help and they grabbed him as well.”

Abdullah said he and the others held the man down for around 4 minutes until police arrived to arrest him.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before, it was horrible,” he said.

Former UK Labour MP Khalid Mahmood was among those in attendance at the function at the high commission, and later took to social media to say he was “honoured to meet” the “hero”.

In the wake of the attack, piles of clothes, as well as a blood-stained napkin, could be seen in the business.

A spokesperson for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the organisation was assisting two Australians who had been injured.

That was at odds with information provided by the Met Police, who said the girl’s mother, 34, had not been hurt in the attack.

‘Where can you go that is going to be safe?’

On Tuesday, Prosecutor David Burns told Westminster Magistrates’ Court the incident was “a random attack on a child” and said Pintaru had put the young Australian in a headlock and stabbed her eight times.

Figures from the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) suggest that while the rates of knife crime are higher in London when compared with the England average, there are other areas where people are more likely to be stabbed.

The statistics track hospital admissions for stab wounds and suggest knife crime has decreased in London since 2018.

In the 12 months to July 2024, the Met Police recorded 4,160 knife crimes that resulted in an injury, a slight increase on the previous year.

A total of 181 of those occurred in the borough of Westminster, where Leicester Square is located.

While London remains a safe city by global standards — and the UK a safe country — high-profile unrelated attacks have left communities reeling this year.

Earlier this month, three girls aged between six and nine died and multiple other people were injured when a man attacked a dance class with a knife in the town of Southport.

In May, a 14-year-old boy was killed while walking to school when a man set upon him with a samurai sword in London’s north-east.

Police do not believe Monday’s incident in Leicester Square is terror-related and do not believe the alleged attacker and victim were known to each other.

Londoners Kiran and Thandiwe, both 15, were in Leicester Square on Wednesday and said the attack on the young Australian girl was worrying.

“You see this stuff happening in dark places,” Kiran said.

“Usually when you’re around people, you feel safe. So when something like this happens, and there’s so many people around, it’s like, where can you go that is going to be safe?”

Thandiwe said she hoped knife crime didn’t become “normalised” in the city, and said she was “really careful” when out in public, and usually tried to stay with friends.

“I feel a bit scared to use headphones and stuff [when I’m walking]. What if someone’s behind me?”

Pintaru has been remanded in custody and is due to appear at the Old Bailey next month.