Sentenced: 73-Year-Old Man Slashes 7YO Detroit Girl’s Throat in Park

[Sugar Cookie]

Gary Lansky is accused of slashing a girl at a park in Detroit on Tuesday afternoon.

7-year-old Saida Mashrah was at Ryan Park with her grandmother when a 73-year-old Lansky approached her around 3:45 p.m.

"A guy came up to me," Mashrah said. "He pulled my face up and then in the other hand was a knife. He just came out of nowhere and slid the knife on me."

Mashrah says she kicked him – and ran to her nearby home, showing mom what he’d done, slashing her throat and trying to puncture her stomach with a pocket knife.

When officers arrived, they saw Lansly getting out of his vehicle and took him into custody without incident.

"He was extremely calm, which was kind of strange," Detroit Police Cmdr. Vernal Newson said.

Lansky faces additional charges for domestic violence against his wife, before this attack.

Newson said they investigated whether the stabbing was a hate crime, but did not find evidence that the girl was targeted because of her ethnicity. Family members of the suspect told police he may have been suffering from mental health distress and had called his sister to tell her that he was considering hurting himself.

The suspect has no previous criminal history aside from recent domestic violence charges after allegedly assaulting his wife and sister. Newson said police learned he may have been experiencing a mental health crisis in that case, too.

Lansky was arrested for domestic violence against his wife and her sister back in April – the victim refused to prosecute so the warrant request was denied.

'Just came out of nowhere': 73-year-old man slashes 7-year-old girl at Detroit park

"He just came out of nowhere and slid the knife on me," said Saida Mashrah, who needed stitches after the assault.

www.fox2detroit.com

 

[the cat did it]

Is his mind slipping I wonder?

Bet mom won't let her go to the park without herself being there as well, then again the girl may not even want to go back to the park for quite some time, I know I probably wouldn't want to....

 

[Sugar Cookie]

A Michigan man will spend several years behind bars for slashing a 7-year-old girl's throat and trying to stab her in the stomach at a park.

On Thursday, Gary Lansky, 74, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to one count each of assault with intent to murder and assault with a dangerous weapon, according to Wayne County court records.

After his plea, the defendant was sentenced by 36th District Court Judge Malaika D. Ramsey to seven to 15 years in prison over the attack that seriously injured and traumatized Saida Mashrah.

Lansky was also sentenced to one to four years in prison for a separate assault conviction involving one of his relatives. The judge assessed both sentences to run concurrently, or at the same time.

The defendant, for his part, offered a brief allocution during the sentencing hearing.

"I'd like to say how sorry I am to the family for what I've done," Lansky said.

Man who slashed 7-year-old girl's throat with pocketknife at park in broad daylight learns fate

"Since that day, nothing has been the same," her mother wrote. "My daughter still smiles sometimes, but it's not the same smile."

lawandcrime.com