The 11-year-old girl who was stabbed in Leicester Square was an Australian tourist, the country’s foreign ministry has said.

The ministry said they were offering assistance to her and her mother, who was with her at the time of the attack.

It comes after Ioan Pintaru, 32, was charged with attempted murder and possession of a bladed article over the incident.

He is accused of stabbing the girl “eight times” after grabbing her while she was with her mother in central London.

Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard on Tuesday that Pintaru, a Romanian citizen of no fixed address, “approached the girl, placed her into a headlock, then stabbed her eight times to the body”.

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Prosecutor David Burns also told the court the girl suffered wounds to her face, shoulder, wrist, and neck area, and would need plastic surgery.

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Pintaru has been remanded in custody. He will next appear at the Old Bailey on 10 September.

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