A father who was released without charge after driving his car into a knife attacker to stop him from killing a woman said it was his “duty” to act.
Abraham, 26, who was originally arrested on suspicion of murder, said he prayed for God’s forgiveness after the incident in Maida Vale, west London.
Yasmin Chkaifi, 43, a mother of two, died on January 24 when she was mugged in the street by her former partner Leon McCaskie, 41, who also used the surname McCaskre.
Witnesses unsuccessfully tried to stop McCaskie before Abraham ran him over in his blue Renault Clio. McCaskie was pronounced dead at the scene.
Abraham, a reported electrician and a married father of two children under five, told the Daily Mail: “Should you see something evil, it is your duty to stop it with your hands.
“If you can’t, then you should stop it by saying so. So I thought, ‘How could I face God if I don’t help? It is my duty, my religion.’ In that moment, I knew I had to act.”
Abraham, who is originally from Chechnya, said he was on his way to work when he heard screams and screams and saw a man with a steel blade in his hand stab a woman on the ground three times in the chest, an experience , which left him “shocked and terrified”.
He said, “I thought, ‘I can’t go and leave her behind.’ I had to help to try to save her. I didn’t have time to think about it. I thought the safest and fastest option would be to use my car to push the man away from the woman.
“So I put my car in first gear and pulled up the curb and onto the sidewalk. It was a short distance, 10 or 12 feet, and I pushed him, I made an impression. I managed to avoid the woman.
“Then I took my foot off the gas, but my car didn’t stop. The momentum continued and I knew the man was under my car. I opened the door and saw his hand sticking out from under it. That sight stays with me and always will be: the man’s outstretched hand.
“My car hit a garden wall and stopped and I tried to reverse but the engine wouldn’t turn. I kept trying to start the car to free the man, but I couldn’t. I screamed for help.”
The Metropolitan Police originally launched a murder investigation into the 26-year-old, but said on Tuesday investigators had reviewed the Self-Defense and Another Person’s Defense Act and now considered Abraham a “key witness” rather than a suspect.
Det Ch Insp Neil Rawlinson, who led the investigation, added that Abraham would be offered “professional support to help him cope with the horrific situation he faced”.
More than 75,000 people had signed a petition in support of Abraham, and his lawyer Tasnime Akunjee said members of Chfaiki’s family had hailed him as “a hero”, called for his release and were in the process of arranging a private meeting with him.
Abraham said he was “in shock” when he was arrested.
He added, “I put my head in my hands and I was like, ‘How did this happen?’ I had tried to save a woman’s life and I had killed a man. I said a prayer, “God forgive me for what I’ve done.”
It turns out McCaskie was wanted by police after he failed to appear in court on January 4 amid allegations that he broke a stalking order when he approached Chkaifi in west London in July last year .