Maher Maaroufe locked up indefinitely for killing Sabita Thanwani

Maher Maaroufe, 24, stabbed 19-year-old Sabita Thanwani in the neck at her University of London accommodation in Clerkenwell. 

He admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility because he was suffering from schizoaffective disorder. 

At his sentencing on Monday (January 15), Sabita’s family described him as an “evil predator” and a “monster”. 

Judge Nigel Lickley KC sentenced him to a hospital order without limit of time. 

He told the defendant: “Sabita had her whole life ahead of her. You ended her life. 

“Your actions will continue to cause enduring pain and suffering.” 

Sabita Thanwani (Image: Met Police)Judge Lickley said Maaroufe carried out the attack during the “height” of a psychotic episode. 

He said Maaroufe had been “aggressive” and “controlling” towards Sabita during their relationship and hit her at least once, adding that this behaviour may have been part of his “emerging illness”. 

The court heard that Maaroufe entered the UK legally on an unknown date but had overstayed and was in the process of claiming asylum at the time of the attack. 

He was unemployed, smoked cannabis and “regularly got into fights”, prosecutor Louis Mably KC said. 

Sabita had complained that Maaroufe was “possessive and controlling”, even waiting outside nightclubs she was in to escort her home. 

The evening before the attack, Sabita met Maaroufe, who was wearing a balaclava, outside a mosque and they spent time in Edgware Road and Oxford Street. 

Maher Maaroufe (Image: Met Police)

After they had returned to Sabita’s accommodation, other students heard her shouting “stop”, “I can’t breathe” and “I beg you, don’t kill me” in the early hours of the morning. 

One young woman, who called the police, said she heard a loud scream of “help”. 

Maaroufe tried to get into another room before leaving the building in Sebastian Street. 

He was found by police asleep under a tarpaulin in a garden shed and headbutted an officer while being arrested, the court heard. 

Sabita, an aspiring psychologist, was described as a “hardworking, conscientious, kind and caring young woman”. 

Her family branded Maaroufe a “murderer” despite his plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter being accepted by the prosecution. 

“His actions were calculated to kill her because she rejected him.” 

The victim’s 22-year-old brother Raveen added that “anger and rage consumes” him when thinking about the defendant. 

Reporting by PA.