A man from Michigan has been sentenced to several years in prison following a brutal attack on a 7-year-old girl, during which he slashed her throat and attempted to stab her in the stomach at a local park.

This past Thursday, 74-year-old Gary Lansky entered a plea of guilty but mentally ill to charges including assault with intent to murder and assault with a dangerous weapon, according to records from Wayne County court.

Following his plea, Judge Malaika D. Ramsey of the 36th District Court handed Lansky a prison sentence ranging from seven to 15 years for the violent assault that left young Saida Mashrah injured and deeply traumatized.

Lansky also received an additional sentence of one to four years for a separate assault charge involving a family member. The judge ruled that these sentences will run concurrently.

During the hearing, the young victim spoke to the court about the long-lasting impact of the attack, as reported by Detroit’s Fox affiliate WJBK.

“I feel scared, nervous, and after this incident, I didn’t want to sleep, go to the park, or do anything,” Saida expressed. “I felt trapped indoors, just playing with toys and watching TV. I feared that going outside could mean someone trying to grab me, take me in their van, or even kill me.”

The underlying incident occurred on Oct. 8, 2024, in the middle of the day, at Ryan Park in the Warrendale neighborhood of the Motor City.

Lansky approached Saida while she was playing, lifted her face and cut her throat with a pocketknife, Law&Crime previously reported. The girl screamed and kicked at her attacker before running home — where a neighbor quickly applied gauze pads to stop the bleeding.

“He just came out of nowhere and slid the knife on me,” Saida told WJBK at the time.

As the neighbor applied pressure to the deep wounds on her neck, the child said: “Oh, I’m going to die, and nobody is going to be here with me,” according to Detroit-based ABC affiliate WXYZ.

At the scene of the crime, bystanders eventually intervened and restrained Lansky until law enforcement arrived that afternoon.

Ultimately, Saida received three stitches to patch her wounds.

The girl’s family later filed a $50 million civil lawsuit over the attack.

“Upon seeing [Saida], defendant Gary Lansky parked his van and, without hesitation, walked up … grabbed her by the chin, yanked back her head, with one hand and with the other manifested his sadistic fantasy,” the 10-page complaint reads. “He dragged his knife across [Saida’s] delicate neck, opening it. Blood gushed out from [Saida’s] throat, but Lansky was not satisfied. He then attempted to gut little [Saida] by ramming his blade into her stomach.”

As the attack progressed, Saida “miraculously” fell from Lansky’s grasp and landed on her back before the knife could pierce her stomach, according to the lawsuit filed in Wayne County Circuit Court.

On Thursday, Saida finally trailed off as her voice gave way to tears. But for her family, the proceedings were simply too much.

A statement was read in court on her mother’s behalf.

“Since that day, nothing has been the same,” the statement reads. “My daughter still smiles sometimes, but it’s not the same smile. It is the kind of smile that hides tears. Behind it she is broken inside. I try to be strong for her but every night when I hear her crying I break a little inside, too.”

Local civil rights leaders criticized how the case was handled by authorities, upset over the lack of a hate crime enhancement.

“This was not a random act of violence, this was a tragic, vicious attack,” Arab American Civil Rights League Executive Director Mariam Charara said at a press conference earlier this fall, according to The Detroit News. “[Saida] and her family were visibly different in that park. We know that if the tables were turned and it were an Arab American man that committed this act, there would be no hesitation in how this case would be prosecuted.”

The defendant, for his part, offered a brief allocution during the sentencing hearing.

“I’d like to say how sorry I am to the family for what I’ve done,” Lansky said.