As ICC reports, in this particular case, the incident occurred near a café, and was recorded on the shop’s security cameras. People in the café intervened to prevent Mamdooh from killing Katren, and they ensured that she was taken to the hospital. Her daughter said an interview to local news, “the man met my mother and covered her eyes. He told her, ‘I will kill you because you don’t cover your hair.’ He took off my mother 3 layers of skin.”

Christian women in Egypt are often targeted by extremists because they do not necessarily follow the Islamic dress code. However, choosing to wear a headscarf does not mean that Christian women will be free from harassment. It is also common for police to dismiss such incidents on the basis that the attacker had some sort of mental instability.

In this particular case, Mamdooh’s mother reportedly provided a certificate which confirms her son’s instability. However, it is not clear as to the validity of the certificate.