(CNN) An unborn baby has been saved by doctors after his mother was shot and killed with a crossbow in east London, the UK Press Association reported.

London's Metropolitan Police confirmed that 50-year-old Ramanodge Unmathallegadoo has been charged with the murder of Sana Muhammad, 35, following the violent attack in Ilford on Monday morning. CNN has learned that Unmathallegadoo is the ex-husband of the victim.

Sana Muhammad -- previously named by police as Devi Unmathallegadoo -- was eight months pregnant with her baby, who was narrowly missed by the crossbow and was delivered safely in hospital.

The victim's husband, Imtiaz Muhammad, told the Evening Standard newspaper that the alleged killer had been hiding in the family's garden shed, before attacking her in front of her five other children.

He told the newspaper: "I can't help thinking she took my arrow. Maybe it should have hit me. The kids were all there, it was horrific."

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