A YOUNG mum described her desperate attempts to protect her baby from an unprovoked attack in the stairway of her block of flats.

Chaniece Fisher tried to shield her seven-and-a-half-week-old son Satorio as she was kicked and punched outside her Oxford city centre home.

The 20-year-old claimed police later told her the suspect, who lived nearby, had a history of mental health problems.

Miss Fisher said she was leaving her flat in St Thomas Street just before 2pm on Sunday when a man came running towards her, yelling.

She said: “He started throwing punches at me. The pushchair tipped and hit the wall.

“He was punching me and kicking me. I said: ‘Please don’t, please don’t, my baby is there’. He had lost it — you could see it in his eyes.”

Miss Fisher knocked on nearby doors for help before one neighbour, armed with a baseball bat, dragged her to safety inside his flat.

Police and paramedics took Miss Fisher to hospital where she was treated for cuts and bruises.

“She said: “I did not really feel pain, I was just more scared for my baby. I can’t sleep now – I just feel like a nervous wreck.”

Miss Fisher added police and housing officials later said the suspect had previously been treated at the Warneford Hospital in Oxford. Police declined to comment on the man’s background.

Her partner Julio Dos-Santos said: “I do not think my partner will ever feel safe there.”

The 25-year-old carpenter added: “God knows what would have happened if the neighbour had not come out.”

Police spokesman Vicky Brandon said: “A man has been detained under the Mental Health Act and has been released on police bail until June 23.”

A spokesman for social housing landlord A2Dominion said: “Local authorities and health care providers sometimes refer residents with mental health issues to us.

“Working in partnership with these agencies, we assess their suitability to live independently in general needs housing, whilst they continue to receive support.”

Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust declined to comment on individual cases.