Police update after terrified woman ambushed by topless knifeman in her kitchen

RAISAH SAWATI HEARD 'CLATTERING' AND THE SOUND OF 'DISHES FALLING' BEFORE SHE FOUND HERSELF FACE TO FACE WITH THE INTRUDER 19:47, 20 May 2025 Police have issued an update

after a terrified woman was ambushed by a topless knifeman in her kitchen at her home in east Manchester. Doctor Raisah Sawati heard 'clattering' and the sound of 'dishes

falling' before she found herself face to face with the unknown intruder, who had made his way into the Newton Heath home at around 11pm last Friday (May 16). ‌A 20 minute ordeal

followed, as the unknown man grabbed a knife from her kitchen, and went on to follow her around the property while also wielding a pair of scissors and a frying pan. _JOIN THE MANCHESTER

EVENING NEWS WHATSAPP GROUP _HERE Greater Manchester Police previously confirmed a man had been arrested at the scene on suspicion of aggravated burglary. He has since been released on bail,

the force said. Speaking of the ordeal, Raisah told the M.E.N: "I was up in the bedroom and could hear someone outside on the street shouting down the phone loudly. Moment topless man

breaks into woman's home through kitchen window "I popped my head round the window and saw him walking topless down the street. He pointed at me but I ignored it and thought he

must've thought I was someone else. "The next thing I knew, I heard all this noise. It was clattering and the sound of dishes falling. He was standing in my kitchen with this

kitchen knife, then he picked up a frying pan. He was this big six-foot man." After trying to close the kitchen door, Raisah said he was then able to yank it open, and followed her to

the living room after picking up a pair of scissors. As she went upstairs to her room to use her phone to call for help, he then picked up a pair of scissors and began to follow her, before

trying to break down her bedroom door. "I then went upstairs to try and alert someone and he followed me up. He was standing there with the pair of scissors," she said. "I

knew I needed to call the police but I really didn't know what to do. I shut myself in [the bedroom] but he was banging on the door trying to get it open. I managed to call 999. It felt

like ages that I was trapped upstairs in the bedroom." Within around six minutes, Raisah said a convoy of armed police arrived at her property and arrested the suspect on suspicion of

aggravated burglary. She caught the incident on her mobile phone, with indoor security cameras also filming the ordeal. "The last thing you expect is to not feel safe in your own home.

When you think you're having a quiet night in and then someone jumps in," she added. "When he had the knife, all I was thinking was that I was going to be stabbed or raped and

nothing could've stopped him." --- Day in day out, our reporters in the_ Manchester Evening __News_ newsroom bring you remarkable stories from all aspects of Mancunian life.

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