A Manchester teen who battered and mauled a man to death with her pet Pit Bull after believing he was possessed by the Devil has been handed a life sentence today.
Tinika Campbell, 17, sank her teeth into the head of Khalid Kassian Hassan, 36 then rained punches upon him during a frenzied beating after harbouring a deranged belief he was about to mount a demonic attack upon her.
She also set her Pit Bull dog on Hassan as he tried to run from her clutches.
When police were called to a flat in Longsight, Manchester, after neighbours heard Iraqi born Hassan ‘screaming for help’, they found Campbell kneeling astride him in the doorway, headbutting him in the face and calling him a ‘dirty bastard.’
As officers attempted to tend to his mutilated body, Campbell, briefly paused her assault before she stamped on his face and then used the Pit Bull to ward off police while she fled.
The teenager broke into a nearby office and barricaded herself inside using furniture to block the door before she was finally arrested 20 minutes later when police were forced to overpower with a Taser weapon during the terrifying siege in the early hours of August 31, 2012.
When Campbell was transferred to nearby Longsight police station she began ‘roaring’ and talking about God in her cell before she bit into the hand of an officer and refused to let go.
Hassan died at the scene. When his body was examined the pathologist discovered a catalogue of disturbing injuries including a fractured nose, four fractured ribs, bruises and cuts to his head and face, a broken neck bone and severe injuries to his left leg consistent with dog bites.
He had also suffered several bites from a human on his head and left hand.
Mr Hassan had been living in the UK since 2001 but had recently been refused asylum and was looking at ways of staying in the country.
At Manchester Crown Court it emerged Campbell was suffering from schizo-affective disorder exacerbated by her frequent use of cannabis and legal highs drugs.
It led to abnormal beliefs in which she thought everybody was possessed by the devil.
Details of the grisly case emerged as Campbell, now 19, was given a life sentence and branded ‘extremely dangerous’ after she admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished reponsibility.
She will have to serve a minimum term of five years after her not guilty plea to murder was accepted. It emerged she already had 18 convictions for 27 offences including assault and robbery.
Prosecutor Neil Usher said: “She said she couldn’t trust anybody. She told a doctor at stage during the early hours she had took the dog for a walk. She insisted she had not gone for the purposes of killing.
“She had wandered the streets and found herself at his address by chance.
“Then she said for no reason her dog started gnawing at the trousers of the victim at which point she believed he was the devil and was trying to attack her and she had to defend herself. This led to the attack.
“She has continued to experience delusional thoughts and violence and other challenging behaviour. Her condition is exacerbated by the effects of illicit psychotic drugs including cannabis.”
As well as hearing Mr Hassan’s futile screams for mercy, neighbours reported Campbell telling her dog to ‘sick him’ and ‘get him’ when they contacted the police.
The court heard in the days before the attack that Campbell, who had been in care since the age of 14 but was regaining contact with her parents, was displaying manic behaviour.
She had been singing gospel songs and praising God, grabbed one man in the street and shook his head while saying ‘he’s the devil, he’s the devil’, and sprayed graffiti on gravestones at a cemetery.
After she was sent to the medium-security Edenfield centre in Prestwich, Manchester following Mr Hassan’s killing, she continued to act violently.
Campbell even misused legal highs while under the care of staff and on another occasion attacked an elderly female resident.
William Staunton, defending, conceded that Campbell was a dangerous offender and a serious risk to members of the public.
He added: “We can’t ignore the dreadful way this man died. She appears to know she was responsible for the death of this man.
“While in police custody she went in to prayer and sought forgiveness. It was a brutal and frenzied attack, but one which was committed during an episode.”
Under guidance from Dr Fareed Bashir, Campbell’s psychiatrist at the Edenfield Centre, Judge Michael Henshell ruled a prison sentence would be more appropriate than a hospital order because of her risk of harm.
Judge Henshell said: “There were no eye witnesses to the fatal attack but it is clear from the evidence at the scene that he must have been attacked initially in his own home and during the attack fled to a nearby house leaving a trail of blood which stretched form his flat to the hallway of his neighbour’s house.
“A neighbour heard a disturbance at 5am with sounds including him crying for help and the defendant urging the dog to attack him. When the police opened the door the scene that confronted them was truly horrific.
“Her appearance was that she looked deranged – her hair was matted with blood and she was breathing heavily and muttering to herself. It was clear he was already dead.”
Judge Henshell said Campbell has had a significant history of behavioural problems since childhood, and that she began to exhibit psychotic symptoms at around the age of 16 where she could be volatile and violent.
“In answer to the question of dangerousness I can say most certainly she is. She can be classed as extremely dangerous. Clearly this offence is particularly grave,” Judge Henshell said.
“I say that with no hesitation. The harm here is exceptionally grave, the culpability is diminished by her mental condition. I have no hesitation that a life sentence is justified.
“She will be on licence for life and liable to recall at any time.”
Story via Cavendish Press.
Image courtesy of Stephen Richards, with thanks.
