The family of an 8-year-old Yemeni girl whose throat was slit while playing in a Detroit park last year filed a lawsuit Wednesday, Oct. 22, against the man police say committed the crime.
The lawsuit describes the emotional experiences and trauma Saida Mashrah and her mother Amirah Sharhan have suffered since the attack, such as how she cries and screams at night from nightmares, or how she is now afraid of strangers, especially older men, and being in public spaces, including school.
“I feel scared when I see a person pass by our house,” Saida said at a news conference Wednesday announcing the lawsuit.
Saida said that her attacker did not say anything when the 2024 on Oct. 8, while she was playing in Detroit’s Ryan Park with her grandmother, approached her with a knife, lifted her head up and cut her throat, a cut so deep Saida’s mother said she could see the bone. The attack led to hate crime charges against the girl, who is Yemeni and Muslim.
Lansky was found competent to stand trial in December for assault with intent to murder. His attorney, Kristina Dunne, did not respond to a request for comment.
Attorney Nabih Ayad says in the lawsuit filed in Wayne County District Court that Lansky, who lives near Ryan Park, “drove around dreaming of slitting the child’s throat in front of the child’s parents and peers.”
Lansky “expressed his sadistic fantasy” when he slit Saida’s throat, Ayad wrote.
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in 2025 on Friday, January 17, 7-year-old Saida Mashrah snuggled up to her mother at her home in Detroit. Mashrah’s throat was slashed while playing in the park in October, and the perpetrator of the crime, Gary Lansky, 73, is still behind bars awaiting trial.
“But Lansky wasn’t satisfied. He then tried to disembowel (Said) by stabbing her in the stomach,” Ayad continued.
Miraculously, (Saida) fell from Lansky’s grasp and landed on her back before the knife could pierce her stomach, and managed to kick the accused as he lunged for her again.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Ayad described Said as “courageous”, “courageous”.
The lawsuit seeks $50 million in damages, but Ayad said it was also filed to force people to ask the question Saida, her mother, Arab and Muslim civil rights leaders and others have repeatedly asked: “Why her?”
When a reporter asked Saida on Wednesday if she understood how important it is for her to stand up for herself and others like her, she smiled. “Yes,” she said.
Sharhan, who has been demanding justice for her daughter since the attack, was inside the building but could not look at the cameras. Instead, a statement was read on her behalf:
“I wish I could stand here and speak for myself. But the pain in me and my daughter is too much for me to put into words. Nothing has been the same since that day. My daughter still smiles sometimes, but it’s not the same smile. It’s the kind of smile that hides tears. Behind her, she’s broken inside.”
A Free Press reporter caught up with Said in January. They talked about how her physical wounds had healed in that time, but she was still emotionally scarred.
“He’s chasing me with a knife and then … I dream that he’s next to me when I’m sleeping,” she said at the time.
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Andrea Sahouri covers criminal law for the Detroit Free Press. Contact her on tel asahouri@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared in the Detroit Free Press: Gunman accused of slitting Yemeni woman’s throat in Detroit sued