Still smiling after brutal stabbing

Jan 13 2009 By Steve Dyson and Mark Cowan

Families matter more than ever at times of crisis. For Birmingham newsagent Habib Malik, that crisis began just before Christmas after a violent knife attack left him fighting for his life. Thanks to his bravery and the support of his loved ones, he defied death and is now back at home with a very big smile on his face. STEVE DYSON and MARK COWAN report.

WHEN Habib Malik stands up, you can be forgiven for thinking you are talking to the wrong person.

Is this really the newsagent whose throat was slashed and back stabbed in a dawn raid on his store just three weeks ago?

He was ‘critically ill’ for several days after the attack on December 18, with doctors amazed at how close the wounds had been from vital arteries.

And yet here was Habib, looking relaxed, beaming from ear to ear, shaking our hands and welcoming us into his home behind Lifestyle Express on Richmond Road, Stechford.

There was no worried look on his face as he introduced his wife, Zubina Nazir, his mother-in-law and his youngest two children, son Haaris Habib, aged two, and daughter Anisah Habib, eight.

No shaking hand, no nervous speech, nothing, in fact, that would give him away as a victim of crime.

It was only when the 40-year-old lifted his colourful neck tie to reveal a thick, six-inch long scar that the reality of his recent trauma was apparent. The violent attack has been reported several times in the media, and Habib recalls the graphic detail once more without demur. It was only when remembering the moment immediately after the raiders fled that his face falls into a trance.

“I had gone very light-headed and I was trying to figure out what had happened. I thought I hadn’t got much time left and I felt time running out for me.

“My wife heard the commotion and came running downstairs. She saw me holding my neck but hadn’t seen my back which was covered in blood.

“She took me into the back. My eldest daughter Misbah Habib, who is 13 this week, came downstairs as well. I was running though my mind thinking about how long I might have left and was looking at my family thinking what would happen to them.

“While we were waiting for the ambulance to arrive my daughter got a towel and was holding it to my back applying pressure to the wounds while I held my neck.

“She was very brave. It was heartbreaking to think about your own children seeing that.

“My wife was very strong and put on a brave face for the children.

“It was then that I realised I had to be there for them. I am the head of the household, you see, and the thought in my mind that I could have lost my life, the children could have lost their father, my wife lost a husband and my parents could have lost a son was too much to bear.

“My wife came to see me in hospital and I told her to keep the shop open. She did and