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Stab victim Abigail has baby son

Mrs Witchalls was attacked as she pushed her son Joseph in his buggy
Abigail Witchalls, the young mother stabbed in the neck while walking along a country lane in Surrey, has given birth to a baby boy.

Her son was born weighing 5lbs 6oz on Friday afternoon at St George's Hospital in Tooting, south London.

Mrs Witchalls, 26, was discharged from hospital last week after six months of treatment for injuries which left her partially paralysed.

She was attacked on 20 April near her home in Little Bookham.

A hospital spokesman said: "Abigail and Benoit Witchalls are delighted to announce the birth of a healthy baby boy at 2.30pm today weighing 5lbs and 6oz.

"The delivery went very well and mother and baby are doing fine."

Three-inch wound

Mrs Witchalls only returned home on 2 November after being treated at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in north London.

Her pregnancy was revealed two months after the stabbing.

She suffered a three-inch wound in the back of her neck - the attacker also held a knife to her son Joseph's throat.

Surrey Police began investigating 23-year-old Richard Cazaly as a suspect after he apparently committed suicide in Scotland just 10 days after the attack.

A file was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service on 2 August.

A police spokesman said: "The investigation team is delighted that Abigail has managed to have this baby and that mother and child are doing well."

One villager in Little Bookham said: "The local people see it as an answer to prayer, they are rejoicing and giving thanks." BBC

12 November 2005 15:37:14 GMT
viewLondon

Neighbours of Abigail Witchalls, who was stabbed in the neck while walking with her toddler son in a country lane, are offering prayers of thanksgiving for the birth of her healthy baby boy.

The 26-year-old was in the early stages of pregnancy when she was attacked on April 20 in a lane near her home in Little Bookham, Surrey.

Yesterday Mrs Witchalls and her husband, Benoit, announced the birth of their son at St George's Hospital in Tooting, south London, who was due around Christmas. Mother and baby, who weighed 5lbs 6oz, are "both healthy" following a Caesarean section.

Mrs Witchalls' husband, Benoit, said: "We are really looking forward to an exciting homecoming once more."

Villagers will now attend a service at Abigail's local church, Our Lady of Sorrows Roman Catholic Church in Little Bookham.

A resident of Little Bookham, who asked not to be named, told Press Association: "Everybody is happy for poor Abigail. It's a wonderful thing, we thought it was going to be closer to Christmas.

“The local people see it as an answer to prayer, they are rejoicing and giving thanks."

Mrs Witchalls was stabbed in the neck by an attacker in the village of Little Bookham, Surrey, as she pushed her son Joseph in his buggy along a country lane near her home.

The 26-year-old was in the early stages of pregnancy when she was the victim of the apparently random attack in April. A devout Catholic, she was so badly injured in the stabbing that she was given the last rites in hospital.

Mrs Witchalls was released from hospital last week following more than six months of treatment for a damaged spine. She is partially paralysed and is still confined to a wheelchair after five months in a spinal injuries unit, but can now speak and breathe by herself and has some movement in her right arm.

Mrs Witchalls will be moving into a specially-adapted house currently being built for her in Surrey.

She told police that she had been attempting to open a gate and had turned to see her attacker holding a knife to Joseph's throat. She confronted the man, but was stabbed in the neck and left on the ground next to her son.

Richard Cazaly, 23, from Fleet, Hampshire, has been the prime suspect for the attack since he apparently committed suicide in Scotland shortly afterwards.

This is wonderful news about the baby - I am so happy for them

An inspiration for all of us.

The Witchalls family



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They are an amazing family in the way they have coped with this whole situation
I hope this new baby will be a real source of hope and happiness to them.

Wonderful.

Excellent!

ThisisLondon
18 November 2005

Abigail Witchalls, the young mother stabbed in front of her toddler son in April, has left hospital with her week-old son.

The boy, born six weeks early last Friday, is to be named Dominic Adrian, Mrs Witchalls and her husband Benoit revealed.

The baby was baptised at a family service in Little Bookham by priest Father Marie-Dominique Philippe, a French Dominican who is a friend of the family.

Abigail, 26, was in the early stages of pregnancy when she was left fighting for her life after an unprovoked attack by a knifeman in a country lane near her home in the Surrey village of Little Bookham in April.

She was pushing her then 21-month-old son Joseph in a buggy after visiting a mother-and-toddler group in the village when the attacker struck, stabbing her in the neck after holding the knife to Joseph's throat.

The attack, which left Abigail tetraplegic, shocked Britain, happening in an area of commuter-belt Surrey described by police as the safest corner of the safest county in England.

While her condition was so serious that Abigail, a devout Catholic, was given the last rites, she staged a brave recovery, prompting a flood of letters of support from across the UK and overseas.

Within little more than a day of the attack, Abigail was able to communicate with family by her intensive care bedside using only blinks and facial movements and was soon giving police a detailed account of her ordeal in a series of extraordinary bedside interviews.

Despite a number of arrests and hundreds of calls from the public, no-one has been charged with the attempted murder. But the Crown Prosecution Service is currently going over a file on the case containing evidence linking 23-year-old Little Bookham garden centre worker Richard Cazaly, who died of an apparent overdose in Scotland shortly afterwards, with the attack.

Throughout her ordeal Abigail was carrying her second son. Dominic was born weighing 5lb 6oz last Friday at St George's Hospital in Tooting, south London, the same hospital where Abigail was fighting for her life in April.