A MUM was brutally stabbed moments after dropping off her children at school today.
Charlene Malone, 30, was attacked at 9am outside her home on Wester Drylaw Drive in Edinburgh.
The mum of three had just dropped her youngest daughter off at a local primary school, and was about to go for a cup of tea with a friend.
Her two older children, aged 11 and 12, had walked unaccompanied.
A friend told today how Ms Malone, who is unable to work, was assaulted by a man and a woman who pulled up in a car and jumped out on her on the street outside her flat.
The friend described how the mum was dragged along the pavement before being savagely attacked with a blade.
They also claimed that a small child had been seen strapped into the back passenger seat of the car driven by her attackers.
The friend said: “Her arm got slashed on the underneath because she put up her arm to defend herself and she got stabbed in the back.
“She was just coming back from the school after dropping off the wee one, she was only going to go back to her friends for a cup of tea.
“Her other two children are big enough to walk there but the little one is only five so she walks her along.
“Her friend was waiting for her outside the flat in the car”.
The nearest primary school is less than a mile away.
The friend said: “She was just outside when this car pulls up and a woman got out and attacked her. I didn’t see it but two witnesses saw it.
“Then Charlene was getting the better of her so a man got out and dragged Charlene along the street by her hair.
“That’s when the woman got her knife out, it was a Stanley knife I think.
“She stabbed her in the back and then they drove off. I think the car was found up in Colinton with a parking ticket on it.
” They had a baby in the back and it was screaming whilst all this was carrying on.
” I don’t know who did it or why they did it. It’s benefits street around here. You’ll not get much out of people here.”
The friend added: “She’s OK but she’s to stay in hospital so they can look at her back.”
One neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: “It’s absolutely terrible that can happen at that hour in the morning in front of her own house
“I’ve lived here for 25 years and never seen anything like that happen.”
But another said: “It’s just life. It could happen anywhere.’
A police spokesman said: “Police are investigating following a report of an assault in the Drylaw area of the city.
“The incident happened around 9am this morning.
“Enquiries are ongoing.”
Drylaw, in the north west of Edinburgh, is one of the city’s poorest areas.
Ms Malone was still in hospital and could not be contacted for comment.
