In a shocking and tragic incident, a Tunisian asylum-seeker has been detained indefinitely at Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital after killing and nearly beheading his 19-year-old British Indian student girlfriend, Sabita Thanwani, at her London university hall of residence. The Old Bailey heard that Maher Maaroufe (24) killed Thanwani on March 19, 2022 in her room at Arbour House, near City University, where she was an undergraduate student reading psychology, with a bright future ahead of her.

During the trial, it was revealed that Maaroufe, who sometimes smoked 10 pounds of cannabis a day, was in the midst of a psychotic episode, believing Thanwani was the male devil. He almost beheaded her, inflicting 31 injuries with a razor blade. The court also heard that Maaroufe had gone to a mosque on the night of the killing and that a book in Arabic on how to expel demons was found at the scene. A female student next door was woken by Thanwani's screams for help and called 999, but it was too late. Maaroufe fled the scene wearing a balaclava and was found the next day hiding in a garden shed dressed in women's clothes, having stolen Thanwani’s phone and credit card.

On June 30, 2023, Maaroufe pleaded guilty to manslaughter with diminished responsibility, as well as to assaulting a police officer. Psychiatrists testified that Maaroufe had been hearing voices, believed that the TV was including him in programmes, and thought he was in the afterlife at the time of the killing. The judge sentenced him to an indefinite hospital order, attributing the main driver of the killing to Maaroufe’s schizoaffective disorder. However, the Thanwani family expressed disappointment in the judgment, stating that this was a premeditated, cold-blooded murder influenced by religious extremism.

They also criticized the immigration system for not taking action against Maaroufe, who was known to be a violent and controlling individual and was in the UK illegally. The family believes that if immigration had been informed and taken action, Sabita would still be alive today. This heartbreaking case has raised serious questions about the handling of asylum-seekers and individuals with mental health issues in the UK, leaving the Thanwani family and the community in shock and grieving the loss of a young woman with a promising future ahead of her.