The sister of a loving dad who was stabbed to death in front of horrified shoppers has spoken of the moment she saw him dying in the street.

Daniel Mitchell-Monroe was killed defending his niece Armani Lewis from a knifeman in Basildon town centre on June 28 last year.

The 37-year-old father was stabbed three times outside Iceland in Market Pavement, after stepping in to confront Joram Bakumanya, 22, on June 28, because he was harassing Armani.

His sister, Dionne Martin, is supporting Essex Police’s knife crime campaign by speaking out about her experience.

She said she was shopping in Tesco when she received a frantic call from her 24-year-old daughter telling her Daniel had been stabbed.

Dionne said: “I get down to the town. I just left my car at the side of the road, doors open and everything and I’m running and I can just see a crowd of people.

“I’m trying to get to him and no one’s letting me get to him and he’s lying on the floor then all of a sudden, they’re pushing me away.

“They’re cordoning off the area. They’re going to call an air ambulance they said. I said okay.

“Then we’re waiting and the air ambulance comes and we’re pushed away even further and they started cornering him off so I couldn’t actually see him closely.

“I’m shouting his name just thinking if he heard me he’d know that I’m there and then after a few minutes, I could see that his clothes were open and everything.

“Then the next thing I know I was just stooping down in front of this shop shutter just waiting and the air ambulance crew came over to me and they just said we’re really sorry there’s nothing we can do.”

Joram Bakumanya was sentenced to a serve minimum at 25 years in prison after he was convicted of murdering Daniel.

Bakumanya admitted killing the dad-of-one but claimed throughout the trial that he had acted in self-defence. Dionne added: “A piece of my heart was actually gone and I’ll never get that back.

“People say time’s a healer but I don’t actually see that. Right now it’s not healing anything. It’s destroyed my family.

“We’re so broken over this whole issue - to think that one stupid ignorant person could be walking with a knife and just destroy a whole family.

“Carrying a knife is not something big. People are carrying these knives and thinking they’re protecting themselves.

“Those people carrying knives have destroyed my life - every single one of them.”

Dionne spoke with Essex Police as part of their #NoKnivesinEssex campaign. The force are asking those who carry weapons to surrender them in the appropriate bins across the county.